PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


BV  230  .S73  1883 

Stanford,  Charles,  1823-1886 

The  Lord's  prayer 


..\4?S 


^be  Iboueebolt)  library  of  lEyposition. 


THE    LORD'S    PRAYER. 


T  H  E 


LORD'S    PRAYER 


/ 

CHARLES    STANFORD,    D.D., 


NEW   YORK:   MACMILLAN    &    CO. 
1883. 


\>^  « — 


APR    8    IBoo    ^ 
^^^    _ , ,A 


PREFACE. 


The  following  homilies  were  in  substance  first 
preached  in  the  ordinary  course  of  the  author's 
ministry,  and  have  since  been  written  out  from 
rough  notes,  or  from  memory.  In  November 
1 88 1,  while  engaged  in  thus  getting  them  ready 
for  the  press,  it  became  needful  for  him  to  con- 
sult an  oculist,  and  his  sentence  was,  "  Glaucoma: 
fast  fading  sight."  In  consequence  of  this,  much 
of  the  manuscript  has  been  written  by  him  with 
shut  eyes,  and  much  set  down  at  his  dictation 
by  the  hand  that  has  helped  him  in  all  other 
things. 

"All  is  said,  and  we  come  too  late."*  Nearly 
two  centuries  are  gone  since  this  remark  was 
penned  ;  and  if  it  had  some  truth  in  it  then, 
how  much  more  now,  especially  as  to  the  great 
subject  of  this  small  book  ! 

The  same  argument  for  silence  would,  how- 

*  Jean  de  la  Bruycre. 


VI  PREFACE. 

ever,  have  equal  strength  against  the  discussion 
of  any  other  vital  subject  of  Christian  truth  or 
duty,  and  although  the  Lord's  Prayer  has  al- 
ready been  so  fully  discussed  by  men  of  the 
highest  worth,  even  now,  any  Christian  who, 
as  in  this  instance,  utters  his  own  living 
thoughts  about  it,  in  his  own  natural  way,  and 
with  a  simple  wish  to  honour  God,  may  hope 
thus  to  be  of  some  service  to  his  fellow  Chris- 
tians.    May  this  grace  be  given. 

Charles  Stanford. 

Camberwell,  April  1883. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAl'. 

I.  Jesus,  the  Teacher  of  Prayer 

"Lord,  teach  us  to  pray." 

II.  The  Lord's  Prayer  given  as  a  Patierx 

"After  this  manner  therefore  pray  ye." 

III.  The  Invocation 

"Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven." 

IV.  The  First  Petition         •        .        .        . 

'■  Hallowed  be  Thy  Name." 

V.  The  Second  Petition 

"Thy  kingdom  come." 

VI.  The  Third  Petition 

"Thy  will  be  done  in  earth." 


PAGE 

I 


53 


84 


112 


130 


VII.  The  Fourth  Petition     .        .        ,        .156 

"  Give  us  our  daily  bread." 


viii  CONTENTS. 


CHAP. 


PAGE 


VIII.  The  Fifth  Petition         .        .        .        •       i79 

"  Forgive  us  our  debts." 

IX.  The  Sixth  Petition         .        .        .        •      203 

"  Lead  us  not  into  temptation." 

X.  the  Seventh  Petition    .        .        •        •      229 

"Deliver  us  from  evil." 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

"Lord,   teach  us  to  pray."— Luke  xi.  i.     (Authorized  ahd 
{Revised  Version. 

This  discourse  is  simply  introductory.  Only  in 
the  smallest  degree  does  it  profess  to  offer  notes 
on  any  passage  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  or>n  any 
of  its  historical  circumstances ;  yet  it  is  hoped 
that,  by  the  blessing  of  the  Highest,  it  may 
help  to  tune  some  spirits  for  the  thoughts  that 
follow,  and  waken  some  hearts  into  sympathy 
with  the  lessons  that  Christ  is  about  to  teach, 
by  showing  from  the  Scriptures  in  general,  these 
two  things: — 

I.  Why  Jesus  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  Teacher 
of  prayer, 

II.  How  He  teaches. 

I.  We  have  to  show  wJiy  Jesus  is  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  Teacher  of  Prayer  ? 

It  should  be  taken  for  granted  that  knowing 
how  to  pray  is  the  first  of  all  essentials.  Men 
may  know,  or  think  they  know,  how  to  discuss 
questions  of  Divine  metaphysics,  and  may  talk 
as  if  they  thought  themselves  "  privy  councillors 
A 


2  JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

to  the  King  of  kings,"  but,  after  all,  without  a 
knowledge  of  prayer,  they  have  only  a  know- 
ledge of  surfaces.  God  is  still  a  secret ;  a  veil 
hides  the  mercy  seat,  and  though  they  may  claim 
to  know  all  about  the  cabinet  of  Gospel  truth, 
with  all  its  treasury  of  things  "  new  and  old," 
they  only  know  the  outside  of  it  ;  the  door  is 
locked,  and  there  is  no  key.  Yet  no  one  need 
"perish  for  lack  of  this  knowledge."  If  we 
want  information,  we  may  have  it. 

There  was  once  a  man  in  Palestine  who  said 
that  He  was  the  Son  of  God,  and  what  He  did, 
proved  that  what  He  said  was  true.  Of  Him 
it  was  written  by  the  pen  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
"  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time  ;  the  only 
begotten  Son,  who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father, 
He  hath  declared  Him."  When  He  had  lived 
the  three  years  which  made  visible  the  eternity 
of  unseen  Divine  love,  had  spoken  out  the 
simple,  great,  creative  words  of  eternal  life,  and 
had  wrought  out,  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself, 
the  one  plan  for  restoring  the  bond  which  sin 
had  broken  between  the  Maker  and  the  made, 
He  carried  our  nature  alive  and  uninjured  right 
through  the  death  of  the  cross, — still  in  the 
body,  though  changed  into  a  body  of  glory  ;  He 
then  went  up  into  the  throne  of  mediation,  and 
there  He  ever  lives  to  bestow  what  here  He 
died  to  procure. 

When  we  would  know  how  to  pray,  we,  like 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.  3 

the  first  disciples,  think  that  if  anyone  can  tell 
us,  He  can.  It  is  plain  from  the  sequel  to  their 
request,  that  they  were  not  only  right  in  making 
it,  but  right  in  making  it  to  Him,  and  that  we 
therefore  shall  be  right  in  repeating  it.  He  is 
the  Teacher  of  prayer.  This  is  His  business. 
Now  He  is  ascended.  His  disciples  are  always 
learning  to  pray,  and  He  is  always  teaching. 

No !  some  will  say,  this  teaching  is  the  pro- 
vince, not  of  the  Son,  but  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
But  not  a  single  instance  do  we  find  in  all  the 
New  Testament  of  a  request  for  instruction 
made  to  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  not  to  the 
Spirit  that  disciples  may  go  with  the  petition  — 
"Lord,  teach  us  to  pray."  In  all  our  approaches 
to  the  Infinite  Unseen,  we  have  first  to  do  with 
Jesus  ;  every  prayer  must  reach  His  ear  before 
we  have  the  answer  to  it  ;  like  Stephen,  like 
Paul,  like  those  who  followed  Him  during 
His  earthly  life,  it  is  still  our  delightful  right  to 
speak  out  all  our  fears,  all  our  cares,  and  all 
our  questions,  to  Him  as  to  our  present  Lord, 
with  this  difference  only — that  He  is  not  with 
us  as  He  was  with  them,  veiled  in  a  human  form.* 
When  we  speak  to  Him,  we  speak  to  the  Spirit, 
for  the   Spirit  is  in  Him,  and   in  Him   as  the 

*  That  human  form,  having  answered  the  ends  for 
which  it  was  taken,  would,  if  still  retained  on  earth,  be 
but  a  veil  before  His  divine  glory,  Sia  rod  KarcnreTdix/xaTos, 
tovt''  ^crrt,  ttjs  aapKhs  duroO. — Heb.  x.  20. 


4  JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER, 

Head  of  the  Church,  that  He  may  give  out 
holy  influences.  It  is  as  much  as  ever  one  of 
His  functions  and  part  of  His  work  as  our 
Saviour  to  be  the  Teacher  of  prayer,  and  He 
teaches  by  the  agency  of  the  Spirit — of  the 
Spirit  of  whom  it  is  written — "He  shall  not 
speak  of  Himself,  He  shall  glorify  Me."  "  It 
is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth."  "The  Spirit 
helpeth  our  infirmities,  for  we  know  not  how  to 
pray  as  we  ought,  but  the  Spirit  Himself  maketh 
intercession  for  us  with  groanings  which  cannot 
be  uttered,  and  He  that  searcheth  the  heart, 
knoweth  what  is  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  because 
He  maketh  intercession  for  the  saints  according 
to  the  will  of  God."  * 

II.  Next,  let  us  enquire  how  He  teaches.  We 
must  distinguish  between  agency  and  instru- 
mentality. The  agent  is  One — that  is,  Jesus, 
by  the  Holy  Spirit's  influence  ;  the  instruments 
are  many — and  we  now  propose  to  glance  at 
some  of  the  many  instruments  through  which  this 
influence  works,  in  order  that  we  may  answer  the 
question  before  us. 

I.  He  sometimes  begins  to  teach  us  by 
means  of  an  overheard  prayer.  The  first  neces- 
sity in  the  process  of  teaching  us  is,  that  there 
should  be  roused  in  us  the  wish  to  learn.  The 
sinner  never  anticipates  the  Saviour.  He  begins 
to  teach  before  we  begin  to  ask  Him,  and  it  is 
*  Rom.  viii.  26,  27  {Revised  Version). 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.  5 

at  His  own  mystic  prompting  that  we  pray  to 
be  taught.  The  instrument  of  this  prompting 
is  frequently  an  overheard  prayer.  It  was  so 
in  the  chapter  of  events  to  which  the  text  be- 
longs. 

"  And  it  came  to  pass  that,  as  He  was  pray- 
ing in  a  certain  place,"  I  think  it  was  in  secret, 
"when  He  ceased,  one  of  His  disciples  said 
unto  Him,  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray." 

John  Bunyan,  telling  the  story  of  his  pilgrims, 
says  in  one  passage,  "Now,  when  they  were 
almost  at  the  end  of  the  ground,  they  perceived 
that  a  little  before  them  was  a  solemn  noise  as 
of  one  that  was  much  concerned.  So  they  went 
on,  and  looked  before  them,  and  behold  they 
saw,  as  they  thought,  a  man  upon  his  knees, 
with  his  hands  and  eyes  lift  up,  and  speaking, 
as  they  thought,  earnestly  to  one  that  was 
above.  They  drew  nigh,  but  could  not  tell  what 
he  said,  so  they  went  softly  till  he  had  done. 
When  he  had  done,  he  got  up,  and  began  to 
run  towards  the  Celestial  City." 

If  I  read  aright  the  short  notes  that  Luke  has 
left  us,  the  disciples,  on  the  occasion  here  noti- 
fied, overheard  the  secret  prayers  of  God's  Holy 
One !  The  deep  impression  left  on  me  is,  that 
there  was  not  only  something  extraordinary  in 
the  prayer  itself,  but  in  the  circumstance  that 
they  heard  it — that  it  was  not  a  family  prayer, 
such   as,  doubtless,   they  had   already  many  a 


6  JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

time  heard  Him  utter,  and  in  which  they  had 
taken  part,  but  one  in  which  they  could  not  take 
part,  and  with  which  mortals  could  have  nothing 
to  do — one  in  which  He  was  terribly  alone, 
gloriously  alone — one  which  made  them  feel 
that  they  had  never  prayed  before,  and  had  now 
to  begin  learning.  If,  in  old  time,  a  man  with- 
out meaning  it  had  overheard^  the  secret  prayer 
of  Jacob,  when,  under  the  stars,  he  wrestled 
with  the  "Traveller  Unknown  ;"  if  a  man  had 
overheard  that  prayer  of  Elijah  which  shut  the 
heavens  ;  or  that  which,  three  years  after,  opened 
them  again  ;  if  a  man  had  overheard  the  prayer 
of  Daniel  in  the  night  when  he  was  left  with 
the  tremendous  lions  ;  if  a  man  had  lost  himself 
in  the  Temple,  and  had  somehow  got  shut 
within  the  curtains  of  the  Holy  Place,  so  that 
he  oversaw  the  secret  glory  flame  out,  and  over- 
heard the  secret,  lonely  priest  pray — what  would 
such  overhearings  have  been  in  comparison  with 
this !  No  seer  has  told  us  how  it  came  to  pass, 
but  our  minds  seem  just  now  to  have  a  vision 
of  it.  Jesus  has  been  praying  in  the  mountain 
all  night.  In  the  morning  His  disciples  go  out 
to  meet  Him  as  He  comes  down.  They  are 
pushing  up  through  the  dewy  leaves,  and  round 
by  the  boulders,  when — hush ! 

There,  in  "  a  certain  place,"  is  Jesus,  praying. 
Suddenly  they  feel  as  if  they  had  been  caught 
up    into   the   third    heaven,  and    were  hearing 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.  7 

"  unspeakable  words,  not  lawful  for  man  to 
utter."  It  seems  to  them  that  they  have  no 
right  to  be  there,  and  they  try  to  step  softly 
away,  but  a  power,  not  their  own,  holds  them 
like  a  hand,  and  with  a  fearful  joy  their  thrilled 
and  lifted  spirits  hear  the  prayer  all  through. 
"  Whether  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body," 
whether  rich  or  poor,  whether  in  trouble  or  in 
joy,  they  cannot  tell.  They  are  carried  quite 
out  of  themselves.  Jesus  is  not  in  their  world. 
We  read  that  when  He  ceased,  "one  of  the 
disciples  said.  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray."  * 

No  wonder !  Such  a  prayer  as  that  will 
never  more  be  heard  on  this  our  star.  We 
must  die  before  we  can  see  the  face  of  Jesus,  as 
He  now  is,  or  hear  His  voice  like  "  the  sound 
of  glory  ringing  in  our  ears."  But  we  still  have 
his  spiritual  presence,  and  in  a  great  sense  He 
is  still  on  earth  incarnate — incarnate  by  His 
grace — incarnate  now  not  in  one  form  only, 
but  in  millions.  His  Spirit  being  still  with 
us,  still  we  may  hear  Him  pray  through  human 
lips. 

Among   the   many   surprises   by  which    He 

*  In  speaking  of  the  prayer  overheard  by  the  disciples, 
as  one  of  our  great  Intercessor's  own  solitary  prayers, 
the  preacher  only  presumes  to  give  his  own  view  of  what 
was  probable.  Of  course,  others  have  an  equal  right  to 
make  a  different  statement,  but  no  one  must  speak  with 
positiveness. 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

wakes  in  us  the  wish  to  pray,  such  an  overheard 
prayer  is  still  one.  Some  of  you  can  bear 
witness  to  this.  There  is  a  man  whose  first 
wish  to  pray  was  prompted  by  the  praying  life 
of  ^  his  mother.  There  is  a  man,  a  father  in 
Israel  now,  whose  first  wish  to  pray  was 
prompted  by  the  overheard  prayers  of  an  old 
farm  servant,  as  he  knelt  amidst  corn-sacks  and 
under  cob-webbed  rafters,  yet  as  before  the  lone 
Majesty  of  majesty.  There  is  a  man  whose 
first  wish  to  pray  was  prompted  by  the  over- 
heard prayers  of  his  own  little  child.  "  Little 
children,"  we  have  been  told  by  a  great  sage, 
"  are  professors  in  Christ's  college."  Sometimes, 
when  you  open  the  book  of  wonderful  things, 
intending  to  teach  your  child,  he  will  suddenly 
teach  you.  Sometimes  he  will  ask  you  precisely 
the  right  questions — the  next  thing  to  knowing 
precisely  the  right  answers.  SomxCtimes  he  will 
pierce  the  centre  of  some  great  truth  with  start- 
ling ease  and  directness  ;  and  sometimes  while 
he  is  talking  to  his  Heavenly  Father  with 
artless,  fearless  faith,  and  with  quaint,  loving 
prattle,  adding  a  prayer  of  his  own  to  that  he 
has  been  taught  to  say — he  makes  you,  old 
Christian  as  you  are,  ashamed  to  find  how  much 
you  have  to  learn,  and  how  far  you  are  from  the 
secret  place  of  the  Most  High.  Though  there 
may  for  the  moment  be  a  smile  on  the  lip,  t\  ere 
will  be  a  tear  in  the  eye  and  a  prayer  in   the 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.  9 

heart,  making  the  words  leap  out  ahuost  before 
you  are  aware,  "  Lord,  teach  me  to  pray." 

2.  Jesus  teaches  us  to  pray  by  oitr  troubles. 
"  Head  over  all  things  to  the  church,"  one 
function  of  His  mediating  love  is  to  rule  and 
sanctify  events,  sending  through  them  to  human 
hearts  the  memories  of  His  truth  and  the  forces 
of  His  Spirit.  In  this  part  of  His  saving  work 
it  is  His  way  to  use  trouble  as  an  incitement  to 
prayer,  and  so  teaches  how  to  pray.  We  shall 
not  be  understood  to  mean  that  every  cry  to 
God  in  trouble  is  an  outforce  of  Christ's  teaching 
Spirit.  In  many  an  instance  such  a  cry  is  only 
instinctive,  like  the  cry  of  the  sea  birds  in  a 
storm. 

"  There  is  no  God,"  the  foolish  saith  ; 
But  none,  "  there  is  no  sorrow," 
And  Nature,  oft  the  cry  of  Faith, 
In  bitter  need  will  borrow. 

"  Nature  in  an  agony  is  no  atheist."  Once,  in  a 
case  known  to  me,  a  man  who  had  argued  him- 
self into  the  most  self-complacent  materialism 
had  a  great  affliction ;  the  blow  broke  him 
down ;  nature  was  too  strong  for  his  mere 
theories,  and  looking  round  on  the  silent  com- 
pany of  those  who  had  come  to  comfort  him, 
he  said,  "  perhaps  there  is  a  God — somewhere — 
pray,  somebody  ! "  Once,  a  man  whose  very 
name  had  passed  into  a  proverb  of  sarcastic 
infidelity,  when  in  a  crisis  of  trouble,  cried,  "  O 


lO    JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

God,  have  mercy  ! "     This  was  no  new  thing  in 
the  history  of  souls.     Five  hundred  years  before 
the  words  "  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray  "  were  spoken, 
a  poet  penned  this  similar  story, — "When  the 
Grecian  forces  hotly  pursued  our  host,  and  we 
must  need  venture  over  the  great  river  Strymon, 
frozen  then,  but  beginning  to  thaw,  and  a  hundred 
to  one  we  had  all  died  for  that  thaw,  with  my 
own  eyes  I  saw  many  of  those  gallants  whom  I 
had  heard  before  so  boldly  maintain  there  was 
no  God,  everyone  upon  his  knees  and  devoutly 
praying  that  the  ice  might  hold  till  they  got  over." 
Perhaps  before  the  Son  of  God  came  into  this 
world  as  the  Son  of  man,  He  did  by  virtue  of 
His  yet  unrevealed  expiation,  and  by  the  influ- 
ence of  His  mysterious  spirit,  not  yet  formally 
inaugurated,  speak  to  men  in  times  of  the  power, 
or  of  the  tender  listening  sensibility,  or  of  the 
yearning  after  God,  incited  by  trouble,  and  by 
means  of  this  trouble  began  to  strive  with  them, 
thus   in  som.e  degree  teaching  them  to  pray. 
We  know  He  does  so  now.     Almost  all   our 
Ebenezers  have  been  set  up,  like  the  memorable 
one  of  old,  in  some  place  out  of  which  trouble 
compelled  us  to  cry  for  help,  and  in  the  acute 
instant   of  that   cry  we  said  our  first   lesson. 
After  a   time  of  terror,  John    Newton  wrote, 
"  About  this  time  I  began  to  know  that  there  is 
a'God  who  hears  and  answers  prayer."  *     After 
Letter  to  Rev.  Mr  Haweis,  January  19,  1763. 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.  I  I 

such  a  time  you  might  make  the  Hke  memoran- 
dum. The  time  when  the  soul  seems  to  be 
slipping  off  some  cliff  of  life,  or  going  over  the 
pitch  of  some  dread  Niagara,  or  the  time  when 
all  standing  ground  seems  about  to  open,  or  the 
time  when  going  down  to  "  do  business  in  deep 
waters,"  your  ship  seems  about  to  split — such  is 
often  the  agony  point  of  time  when  the  soul  is 
surprised  into  its  first  prayer.  There  is  beautiful 
order  in  the  very  hurricane  of  trial,  and  the 
calm  Jesus  is  in  the  very  heart  of  the  cyclone 
teaching  that  prayer.  The  moment  of  love  un- 
speakable, intolerable,  alone ;  the  moment  when, 
thrilling  at  the  touch  of  a  clay  hand,  or  the 
sight  of  a  dim,  still  face,  done  with  time ;  the 
moment  when  the  heart  was  weak  as  a  breaking 
wave,  and  all  the  world  seemed  to  snap  like  a 
touched  bubble,  when  all  the  use  seemed  to  die 
out  of  you,  and  yet  you  had  to  live  somehow, 
was  the  moment  perhaps  when  you  first  felt  a 
prayer  moving  within  you.  It  came  without 
any  call  of  yours,  but  in  truth  it  was  the  Saviour 
talking  in  your  heart,  and  teaching  you  to  pray. 
Sad  to  say,  after  such  an  initial  moment,  and 
when  a  praying  life  has  been  startled  into  exist- 
ence, that  life  will  have  its  fits  of  apathy  or 
levity,  making  it  needful  that  it  should  be 
startled  again.  The  levity  of  the  Londoners  in 
old  time,  whose  churches  were  full  during  the 
scaring  visits  of  the  plague,  but  empty  when  it 


12         JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

was  gone,  originated  the  proverb  now  long  out 
of  use,  "  No  prayer,  no  paternoster."  In  the 
spring  of  the  year  1588,  when  the  Spanish 
Armada  was  expected,  all  England  seemed  to 
be  alive  with  prayer,  and,  says  an  old  annalist, 
"  it  might  have  been  written  in  golden  letters 
over  the  door  of  every  sanctuary  in  the  land, 
cor  111121111,  via  tma  ;  but  when  the  fear  was  over, 
and  the  year  grew  old,  the  prayers  grew  cold." 
Do  such  public  facts  seem  to  have  their  reflec- 
tions in  the  facts  of  our  own  secret  history } 
Are  we,  with  all  our  evangelical  daylight,  dull 
to  God  as  were  the  people  of  the  Gothic  ages  .-' 
Are  we  such  unconscious  materialists  that  we 
only  have  a  life  of  spiritual  intensity  and  realis- 
ing prayer  when  terror  knocks  us  down,  or  when 
trouble  desolates  our  outward  lot .''  Must  it  be 
said  of  us,  "  Lord,  in  trouble  they  have  visited 
Thee,"  "  They  poured  out  a  prayer  when  Thy 
chastening  was  upon  them  ; "  and  must  we  add 
the  life  of  prayer  began  to  droop  with  the  return 
of  prosperity .-'  Then  we  shall  have  to  find  that 
"  trials  give  new  life  to  prayer."  The  Lord  will 
repeat  the  lesson.  Somehow  we  must  learn  it, 
and  if  we  will  learn  by  no  other  way,  it  must 
be  by  trouble.  This  principle  will  account  for 
many  a  dispensation  that  we  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  call  mysterious.  If  we  can  find  no 
other  reason  for  it,  we  can  almost  always  find 
this  one,  that   it  makes  us  pray.      When   the 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.  I  3 

elements  of  true  piety,  which  are  the  elements 
of  true  prayer,  have  become  hardened  in  a 
worldly  atmosphere,  they  are  brought  into  fusion 
again  by  the  fire  of  adversity,  all  your  glowing 
soul  is  "  melted  within  you  because  of  trouble," 
and  flows  forth  to  God  ;  and  what  is  this  but  a 
process  by  which  Christ  is  teaching  you  to 
pray  ? 

Old  English  divines,  in  homely  dramatic 
fashion,  sometimes  used  a  certain  passage  in 
Old  Testament  story  as  a  parable  to  expound 
how  the  Lord  of  our  dull  reluctant  spirits  makes 
them  pray.  A  certain  Eastern  prince  once  rode 
up  to  a  certain  farmer's  gate  and  said,  "  Come 
out,  I  would  speak  with  thee ! "  The  farmer  took 
no  notice.  Again  the  prince  cried  out,  "  Come 
out !  "  There  was  still  no  notice.  "  Come 
out !  "  he  shouted  ;  and  when  there  was  still 
no  notice  taken  of  his  call,  he  flung  a  lighted 
brand  over  the  gate  into  the  dry,  rustling  barley. 
Then  the  man  (his  name  was  Joab)  came  out 
and  said,  "  Wherefore  hast  thou  set  my  barley- 
field  on  fire  .'' "  The  reason  was  not  far  to  fetch, 
the  prince  had  thus  gained  his  end,  and  had  got 
the  sullen  man  out  for  an  interview.  We  may 
question  the  taste  of  this  apologue,  and  say  that 
it  is  almost  an  act  of  irreverence  to  weave  out 
from  the  fact  of  a  man's  fury  a  lesson  of  God's 
love  ;  but,  at  least,  no  one  can  mistake  its  point, 
and  no  one  can  deny  its  truth.    No  doubt,  when 


14  JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

we  will  not  consent  to  an  interview,  man  alone 
with  God  alone,  God  often  lights  up  a  great  fire 
of  affliction.  He  makes  "burning  instead  of 
beauty."  He  begins  to  burn  down  some  "  dear 
delight "  that  we  would  most  fondly  cherish,  or 
some  possession  that  we  had  set  our  hearts 
upon  ;  then  we,  who  had  shut  ourselves  up  from 
Him,  come  out ;  we  who  had  dropped  into  a 
habit  of  indolence,  and  had  become  unwilling 
to  offer  energetic  prayer,  are  stirred  to  pray  at 
last ;  and  it  may  be  said  of  the  disciple  whose 
praying  life,  long  declining,  is  thus  quickened 
by  trouble,  as  was  said  in  an  ancient  poem  of  a 
certain  hero  in  trouble,  "  Out  of  his  heart  there 
poured  a  mighty  cry."  So  the  Lord  teaches  us 
to  pray. 

3.  Jesus  teaches  prayer  by  revealing  Himself 
as  the  one  medium  of  prayer.  This  He  does, 
first  by  the  letter,  next  by  the  spirit  of  His 
instructions.  By  the  letter,  we  mean  the 
language.  If  we  would  know  the  Christian 
theory  of  sin,  and  the  Christian  conception  of 
prayer,  we  go  to  the  Fountain-head,  and  ponder 
the  language  of  Him  in  whom  all  Christian  life 
begins.  He  says  to  us  at  once,  "  I  am  the  way, 
and  the  truth,  and  the  life,  no  man  cometh  to 
the  Father  but  by  Me."  "Whatsoever  ye  shall 
ask  the  Father  in  My  name,  that  will  I  do,  that 
the  Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son."  All 
His  other  instructions  are  built  on  these  lines. 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.  1  5 

When  we  enter  His  school,  the  school-book 
which  He  puts  into  our  hands  has,  for  its  central 
peculiarity,  the  doctrine  that  He  is  the  one 
avenue  by  which  a  sinner's  prayers  reach  God, 
and  that  He  is  so  by  virtue  of  His  atoning 
sacrifice.  This  principle  of  our  acceptance 
through  Him  is  awfully  told  in  the  word  "blood" 
— the  "  red  word  " — the  word  which  we  would 
only  utter  with  a  tremble  of  reverence — the 
word  which  spoken  lightly  in  our  hearing,  even 
by  a  preacher,  makes  a  hush  in  our  spirits,  a 
wish  to  cover  our  faces,  and  a  fear  that  would 
cry  "  Holy,  holy,  holy !  "  This  word  meets  us 
in  almost  every  page  of  the  law,  and  is  as  much 
to  be  seen  in  the  plain  statements  of  the  New 
Testament  as  in  the  typical  pictures  of  the  Old. 
If  we  have  fellowship  with  Him  who  is  "the 
Light,"  "the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  His  Son 
cleanseth  us  from  all  sin  ;  "  if  we  would  "  draw 
nigh  to  God,"  we  "  draw  nigh  by  the  blood  of 
Christ ;  "  if  "  we  have  boldness  to  enter  into  the 
holiest,"  it  is  "by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  by  the  new 
and  living  way." 

We  are  told  by  doubters  of  the  Atonement 
that  this  is  only  poetry,  and  that  the  "  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ "  is  only  a  phrase  used  to  give  out 
the  general  idea  that  Jesus  Christ  does  in  some 
way  cleanse  the  soul  and  make  it  holy.  But 
this  is  no  mere  poetry !  Poetry  takes  its  laws 
from  Nature.     Poetry  delights  in  the  beautiful  ; 


I  6  JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

does  Nature  suggest  the  imagery  of  Leviticus  ? 
Is  blood  beautiful  ?     Does  blood  in  the  battle- 
field make   that  which  it  washes  whiter   than 
snow  ?     Sprinkled  on  the  golden  mercy-seat  of 
old,  did  it  make  the  gold  flash  ?  or  on  the  book, 
did  it  make  its  leaves  clean  ?  or  on  the  vessels 
of  the  sanctuary,  did  it  take  out  the  stains  of 
service  ?     Is  not  its  red,  wet  mark,  a  foul  thing  ? 
and  do  not  men  sometimes  turn  sick,  faint,  and 
dark  at  the  sight  of  it  ?     Mere  man's  poetry  of 
purity  never  created  this  emblem.    Poetry  made 
the  murderess  in   Macbeth  look   at  her  hand, 
shiver,    and    cry   as   against   the   intolerable — 
"  Out,  damned  spot !      Out,  I  say !      One,  two, 
.  .  .  There's  the  smell  of  the  blood  still !     All 
the  perfumes  of  Arabia  will  not  sweeten  this 
little  hand.    Oh,  oh,  oh  !  "  If  poetry  had  selected 
a  symbol  of  cleansing,  the  symbol  would  not 
have   been   blood,   but   water.      Water   is   the 
universal   solvent,  purity  making   purity ;    the 
crystal   beauty,   beauty.       Used   by   the   Only 
Wise  as  a  word  for  teaching  lost  souls  the  way 
back  home,  it  must  point  to  sacrificial  cleansing, 
and  its  use  all  through  the  Bible  would  con- 
found our  reason  unless  as  the  sign  for  sacrifice. 
Once  an  inspired  interpreter  speaking  of  the 
blood  that  his  hearers  were  looking  at,  when  in 
attendance  at  the  Temple  services  said,  "  The 
blood  is   the   life  1  "      How  ?      He   must   have 
meant  life  not  in  the  body,  but  out  of  it ;  life 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.  I  7 

which,  being  then  out  of  the  body,  implied  the 
death  of  the  body — "  a  life  laid  down."  Jesus, 
fulfilling  the  words,  "  I  lay  down  my  life  for  the 
sheep,"  fulfilled  the  typical  meaning  of  "  the 
blood."  The  blood  "  shed,"  or  "  poured  out,"  or, 
"  offered  in  sacrifice,"  was  his  very  life,  "  shed," 
or  "  poured  out,"  or  "  offered  in  sacrifice,"  life  for 
life.  In  the  Divine  plan  of  things,  it  is  only  for 
the  sake  of  this  offering,  that  the  sinner,  and  so 
the  sinner's  prayers,  can  be  acceptable. 

Pleading  this,  though  once  banished  out  of 
sight  and  speech  from  God  as  his  Father,  he 
may  now  "  come  with  boldness  to  the  throne  of 
grace."  Doubtless  the  Atonement  has  endless 
aspects  heavenward  and  earthward,  and  glorious 
ramifications  of  meaning  that  open  into  infinity. 
It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  few  proof  texts 
that  we  are  accustomed  to  quote — precious  as 
they  are  as  exquisite  definitions,  short  sum- 
maries, or  watch-words  of  telling  brevity,  were 
ever  intended  to  exhaust  or  explain  the  whole 
wonder  ;  but  many  of  these,  while  they  say  little 
about  its  influence  beyond  our  immediate 
necessity  for  it,  and  nothing  about  reasons,  state 
the  plan  of  the  Gospel  with  such  plainness,  that 
the  simplest  child  in  the  nursery,  or  the  poorest 
man  at  the  crossing,  may  understand  enough  of 
it  to  rest  all  his  weight  on  it  and  be  saved — 
enough  to  use  it  as  that  which  shall  surely  carry 
his  prayers  up  into  heaven — enough  for  practical 
B 


t8  JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

purpose — enough  for  the  present,  all  that  there 
is  now  time  for.     You  may  have  the  teaching 
of  the   latter   to   perfection,   yet   be   far   from 
mastering  the  secret  of  acceptable  prayer.     It  is 
the  heart  that  must  pray  ;  the  heart  must  be  the 
real   scholar.     When    Christ  teaches,  it   is  the 
heart  that  is  the  critic  ;  the  heart  that  rebels. 
Out  of  the  heart  comes  the  voice  that  cries — 
Why  should  prayer  by  way  of  Christ's  sacrifice 
be   the   standing   order    of    salvation .?      Why 
should  I  come  to  God  this  way  t     Why  will  not 
another  way  do  as  well  t     If  I  come  somehow, 
what  does  it  matter  how  }     It  is  the  heart  that 
infects  the  conviction  of  the  intellect ;  but  some- 
times, when  the  creed  of  the  intellect  is  that  of 
the  Epistle  to  the   Romans,  the  creed  of  the 
heart   may   be   heathen,    and   under   words  of 
Christian  truth  there  may  slumber  the  hope  of 
being  heard,  not  as  a  sinner  by  the  rights  of 
Christ,  but  by  virtue  of  some  right  thing  of  your 
own.     In  a  recent  voyage  an  iron  gun  was  in 
such  a  position  on  board  that  it  drew  aside  the 
needle  of  the  compass,  and  kept  it  from  point- 
ing quite  truly;  the  effect  was,   that,  spite  of 
skilful  seamanship,  the  ship  nearly  ran  upon  a 
rock.    Owing  to  the  iron  in  the  heart,  conscience, 
the  compass  of  the  soul,  will  often  deviate,  and 
your   prayer   may   get   into    a   wrong    course. 
Christ  can  change  that  iron,  and  so  practically 
teach  you  the  right.     Each  tried  Christian  is  a 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.  IQ 

witness  to  this.  More  than  one  who  listens  to 
me  now  might  make  the  confession,  Long  after 
I  had  thought  myself  a  Christian,  I  failed  to 
appreciate  the  mediatorial  element  in  the 
groundwork  of  prayer,  and  there  was  a  certain 
slight  of  Christ  in  my  habits  of  devotion,  then, 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  comes  in  the  name  and 
place  of  Christ,  and  whose  province  is,  not  to 
speak  of  Himself,  but  to  take  of  the  things  of 
Christ  and  show  them  to  us,  Christ  taught  my 
heart,  dissolving  my  doubts,  melting  my  pride, 
charming  me  into  sympathy  with  His  own  way 
of  saving  me,  and  inspiring  in  me  a  spirit  of 
total  surrender,  until  I  could  say,  "Jesus,  I  see 
it  all  now,  it  is  all  beautifully  right.  Thou  hast 
undertaken  my  cause  for  me.  Joyfully  do  I 
give  up  to  Thee,  and  live  in  Thee.  In  Thee  I 
appear  before  God  in  prayer,  in  Thee  I  stand 
accepted." 

4.  Jesus  teaches  us  to  pray  by  making  His  oivii 
Spirit  the  spirit  of  mtr  lives.  That  indwelling 
Spirit  will  make  your  life  a  prayer,  so  that  pray- 
ing words  will  become  only  some  of  its  natural 
expressions.  The  most  loving  Christians,  how- 
ever, have  their  dull  seasons,  when  the  soul  is 
sadly  under-vitalized,  and  has  to  cry,  "  I  cleave 
to  the  dust,  quicken  me,  according  to  Thy 
Word." 

Then,  prayers  seem  like  dead  things.  The 
suppliant  has  thought  of  the  right  petitions,  and 


20         JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

given  them  the  right  shape,  but  seems  unable 
to  give  them  wing.  There  is  an  ancient  story 
about  Christ's  childhood  to  the  efifect  that, 
one  day  when  He  was  with  other  children,  they, 
in  their  play,  made  some  clay  into  the  shape  of 
birds,  and  that  the  child  Jesus  gave  life  to 
these  clay  birds,  making  them  fly. 

My  prayer-bird  was  cold— would  not  away, 
Although  I  set  it  on  the  edge  of  the  nest. 
Then  I  bethought  me  of  the  story  old— 
Love-fact,  or  loving  fable,  thou  knowest  best- 
How,  when  the  children  had  made  sparrows  of  clay, 
Thou  mad'st  them  birds,  with  wings  to  flutter  and  fold  ; 
Take,  Lord,  my  prayer  in  Thy  hand,  and  make  it  pray. 

So  sings  George  Macdonald,  although  he  has 
not  yet  given  his  song  to  the  world.  "  Beautiful ! " 
we  cry.  When  we  have  shaped  our  prayers — 
and  yet,  somehow  they  will  not  rise— let  us  offer 
the  words  over  again,  and  wait  on  Him  who  is 
our  life,  to  breathe  Himself  into  them  and  give 
them  wing ;  only  let  us  never  forget  that,  first 
or  last,  the  life  He  puts  into  our  prayers  He 
first  puts  into  us.  He  makes  them  alive,  by 
first  making  us  alive,  and  so  teaches  us  to  pray. 

As  we  speak,  a  recollection  strikes  us  of 
certain  vivid  words  of  His  which  compel  us  to 
change  our  metaphor,  but  only  to  get  another 
aspect  and  a  yet  happier  conception  of  the 
same  truth.  Talking  to  the  Woman  of  Samaria, 
He  said,  "Whosoever  shall  drink  of  the  water 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.  2  I 

that  I  shall  give  him,  shall  never  thirst,  but  the 
water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  hi  him  a  lucll 
of  zuatcr  springing  up  into  everlasting  life." 
This  may  help  to  account  for  a  common 
phenomenon  of  the  Christian's  inward  life.  He 
may  say,  sometimes,  without  meaning  it,  with- 
out a  thought  beforehand,  and  occasionally  even 
without  words.  Amidst  the  activities  of  the  day, 
and  when  I  wake  in  the  night,  I  find  myself 
speaking  to  God  ;  I  have  hopes,  fears,  yearn- 
ings, hurries  of  feeling  Godwards  ;  all  my  life 
seems  to  turn  and  tremble  that  way,  waves  of 
prayer  seem  to  throb  and  swell  in  my  soul. 
What  is  the  meaning  of  all  this  .?  I  know  it  is 
Jesus,  teaching  me  to  pray,  and  this  commotion 
within  me  is  the  "  well  of  water  "  that  He  gives 
"springing  up  into  everlasting  life."  Did  you 
ever  stop  to  trace  the  beginning  of  a  river  .<* 
Down  in  the  solitude,  in  the  dimness,  amidst  the 
tangled  roots  of  things,  under  the  grass,  the 
water  springs  and  palpitates,  breaks  up  through 
ferns  and  mosses,  bubbles  into  beauty,  leaps  and 
lightens,  darkles  and  sparkles,  wells  and  swells, 
bursts  through  all  obstacles,  works  up  through 
the  sand,  will  find  a  way  out  into  the  sunshine, 
till  that  which  began  in  secret  becomes  a  broad 
and  tranquil  river  helping  to  carry  the  fleets  of 
nations  and  to  make  the  boundaries  of  empire. 
So  the  water  that  Christ  gives  us  is  "  in  us  a 
well  of  water  springing   up."      In    mysterious 


2  2         JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

intuitions,  stirs  of  life,  sanctities  of  feeling,  and 
longings  after  the  Infinite,  it  springs  and  springs, 
works  and  works,  down  amidst  broken  stones, 
in  the  tangle,  in  the  heart,  in  the  dark,  in  the 
secrecy  which  only  the  eye  of  God  can  search. 
These  mystic  movements  in  me,  inclining  me 
Godwards,  seem  to  show  that  Jesus  has  me  in 
hand,  that  He  has  begun  the  good  work  in  me, 
and  is  teaching  me  to  pray.  Work  in  me 
mightily.  Spirit  of  Jesus,  "spring  up,  O  well !  " 

5.  Jesus  teaches  to  pray  by  quickening  the 
sense  of  difficulty.  Paley  has  told  us  that  when 
he  was  a  college  tutor  he  found  it  easy  to  make 
his  pupils  understand  the  solution  of  a  thing ; 
the  difficulty  was  to  make  them  alive  to  the 
difficulty.  The  same  principle  works  in  every 
kind  of  learning,  human  and  Divine.  In  learn- 
ing prayer,  unless  you  have  a  sense  of  difficulty, 
you  will  not  make  much  way.  Jesus,  by  His 
Spirit,  gives  the  praying  power ;  by  difficulty. 
He  educates  it. 

Unhappily,  the  notion  is  everywhere  afloat 
that  prayer,  though  a  good  and  holy  thing,  is 
something  dreamy,  something  wordy,  something 
easy,  something  for  women,  children,  ministers, 
and  other  good  people  who  have  no  more  know- 
ledge than  is  necessary,  and  who  have  nothing 
to  do.  It  may  be  hard  to  master  a  language, 
they  think,  hard  to  see  through  a  science  ;  hard 
to  study,  hard  to  preach,  hard  to  practise,  but  it 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.    23 

must  be  easy  to  pray.  A  distinction  is  made 
between  working  and  praying,  and  it  is  under- 
stood that  praying  is  not  working.  The  man 
of  the  world  says,  "  Work  is  worship  ; "  we  say, 
"  Worship  is  work." 

One  great  difficulty  is  realising  God.  It  may 
be  easy  to  kneel,  easy  to  speak,  but  it  is  not 
easy  to  feel  with  all  the  life  of  reality  that  there 
is  in  the  silence  a  listening ;  in  the  vacancy  a 
power  ;  and  so  to  keep  up  a  real  and  effective 
communication  between  the  Spirit  and  the 
Father  of  spirits.  Once  this  realization  might 
not  have  troubled  you  much,  but  since  you  have 
been  trying  to  pray  in  good  earnest  under  the 
direction  of  Christ,  there  are  moments  when 
you  feel  that  it  makes  even  a  torment  of  diffi- 
culty. 

Another  difficulty  is  the  frequent  coldness  of 
desire  Godward.  The  simple  Christians  of 
Labrador  said  to  the  Moravian  missionaries, 
"  We  wish  to  have  such  a  longing  after  God  as 
a  child  has  towards  its  mother,  or  as  a  man  in 
the  chase  has  for  the  reindeer."  This  coldness 
of  heavenly  desire  had  never  been  felt  a  diffi- 
culty in  the  way  of  their  prayers  to  their  old 
heathen  gods  ;  it  was  altogether  a  new  sense, 
quickened  into  existence  by  their  new  Lord  and 
Master.  Our  experience  is  often  a  similar 
sorrowful  sense  of  check  and  incapacity  arising 
from  spiritual  coldness. 


2  4         JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

Another  difficulty,  and  one  much  felt  by 
Christian  men  amidst  the  hard  work  and  keen 
competitions  of  modern  life,  is  the  effect  on  their 
souls  of  the  atmosphere  in  which  they  have  to  live, 
making  it  on  many  occasions,  even  when  they 
try  to  pray,  long  before  they  can  fix  thought, 
or  burn  with  a  praying  spirit.  Even  our 
leisurely  ancestors  felt  it.  "  Our  thoughts," 
wrote  one  of  them,  "  are  like  green  sticks  lying 
on  the  fire,  sobbing  and  smoking  long  before 
they  burst  into  a  blaze."  It  is  Christ  who 
makes  us  fret  and  chafe  at  this  "power  of  the 
air  "  on  our  souls,  seeming  to  saturate  and  damp 
them  so  that  prayer  will  not  burn.  This  gave 
us  no  trouble  before  we  knew  Him. 

Another  difficulty  is  from  vain  thoughts. 
"  If,"  said  Philip  Henry,  "  our  prayers  were 
written  down  and  our  vain  thoughts  interlined, 
what  nonsense  there  would  be!  "  Vain  thoughts 
were  not  counted  amongst  the  difficulties  of 
life,  before  Christ  began  to  teach  him  prayer. 

A  kindred  difficulty  is  the  restlessness  we  often 
feel  in  the  act  of  prayer.  Every  one  of  us  can 
understand  the  entry  made  by  homely  William 
Smith  of  Coalville,  in  the  diary  of  his  soul, 
"  While  at  prayer  my  mind  was  rather  shifting. 
I  had  to  bring  it  back  and  ask  it  to  sit  down."  * 
We  are  baffled  and  weighted  by  ignorance,  by 
infirmity  and  by  countless  things,  which  to- 
*"  Hanani,"  Dr  Grosart,  p.  52. 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.  25 

gether  make  such  a  total  that  we  feel  inclined 
to  think  with  Coleridge  that  "the  act  of  praying, 
in  its  most  perfect  form,  is  the  very  highest 
energy  of  which  the  human  mind  is  capable." 
The  difficulty  does  not  begin  when  we  begin  to 
pray  under  the  teaching  of  Christ,  but  the  seiise 
of  it  does;  and  this  He  uses  for  carrying  on  His 
purpose.  When  you  have  made  acquaintance 
with  a  thing  through  difficulties  you  are  more 
sure  of  your  ground.  Altogether,  your  know- 
ledge has  more  depth  and  your  practice  more 
facility  than  it  could  have  had  in  any  other  way. 
By  quickening  the  sense  of  difficulty  the  Angel 
wrestles  us  into  strength,  and  teaches  the 
suppliant  to  say,  "  I  will  not  let  Thee  go  except 
Thou  bless  me." 

In  these,  and  in  other  ways,  Jesus  teaches 
prayer.  It  is  remarkable  that  He  only  teaches 
prayer,  never  the  philosopJiy  of  prayer.  The 
sentiment  of  not  a  few  appears  to  be,  that  this 
philosophy  is  the  very  thing  that  we  first  have 
to  learn.  The  first  questions,  even  of  Christians, 
are  too  often  simply  speculative  ;  and  in  almost 
every  one  of  the  many  treatises  on  prayer  they 
have  given  to  the  world  in  recent  years,  a  large 
space  is  taken  up  with  the  discussion  of  such 
questions.  More  than  they  are  aware,  they  are 
influenced  in  this  direction  by  the  spirit  of  the 
times.  Each  young  believer  is  now  likely  to  be 
brought   more   or   less   in   contact   with   some 


26  JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

theorist  who  owns  no  higher  teaclier  of  religion 
than  science,  who  smiles  down  upon  him,  assures 
him  that  the  discoveries  of  science  prove  the 
alleged  power  of  prayer  to  be  impossible ;  and 
says,  "  It  is  useless  for  you  to  expect  that  the 
laws  of  nature  will  be  set  aside  because  you 
pray !" 

"Who  wants  the  laws  of  nature  to  be  set 
aside?"  might  be  the  reply.  "Assuredly  I  do 
not.  I  know  very  little  about  the  laws  of  nature, 
and  even  you  know  very  little  more.  For  aught 
your  science  can  show,  it  may  be  quite  possible 
for  God  to  answer  prayers,  without  in  the  least 
degree  touching  the  settled  constitution  of  the 
universe." 

Our  conviction  is  that  we  find  wrought  into 
our  very  nature,  as  one  of  its  primary  principles, 
the  instinct  that  prompts  to  prayer.  We  find 
in  the  Bible  a  renewal  of  this  law,  together  with 
directions,  incentives,  and  promises  encouraging 
our  obedience  to  it.  On  evidence  that  satisfies 
our  reason,  we  believe  the  Bible  to  be  as  much 
the  word,  as  creation  is  the  work  of  God. 
Then,  as  a  matter  of  course,  our  common  sense 
refuses  to  believe  that  when  He  "  who  seeth  the 
end  from  the  beginning,"  made  the  world,  He 
shut  Himself  out  of  it,  establishing  such  fixed 
and  strong  arrangements  that  they  have  totally 
mastered  Him,  so  that  although  He  has  pro- 
mised to  hear  our  prayers.  He  is  in  the  position 


JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER.  2"] 

of  one  who  has  to  say — I  am  sorry,  very  sorry, 
but  circumstances  quite  unforeseen,  and  entirely 
beyond  my  control,  have  now  made  me  unable  to 
keep  my  word  !  When,  therefore,  the  Nebuchad- 
nezzar of  modern  opinion  demands  that  we 
shall  answer  all  his  questions  before  we  pray, 
and  that  we  shall  bow  down  before  the  golden 
theories  that  he  has  set  up,  on  pain  of  being 
cast  into  "the  burning,  fiery  furnace"  of  his 
contempt,  we  say  what  the  three  confessors  said 
to  the  royal  dogmatist  of  old,  "  O  king,  we  are 
not  careful  to  answer  thee  in  this  matter !" 

We  would  yield  to  none  in  enthusiasm  for  the 
study  of  natural  science,  nor  in  our  admiration 
of  those  who  are  working  out  the  process  of  its 
endless  and  fascinating  discoveries.  Only  what 
is  false  in  faith  can  depend  on  what  is  false  in 
science.  Every  truth  must  be  consistent  with 
every  other  truth  in  the  universe  of  God.  Sure 
as  that  there  is  truth  in  the  doctrine  of  prayer, 
the  power  of  prayer  must  be  in  harmony 
with  the  reign  of  law ;  the  efficacy  of  the  one 
with  the  stability  of  the  other.  These  are  our 
convictions.  Up  to  this  time,  however,  we  are 
not  entirely  satisfied  with  any  solutions  of  the 
problem  in  question.  Perhaps  we  shall  find 
one,  some  when  and  some  where  ;  but  we  think 
not,  in  this  short  and  germinal  stage  of  exis- 
tence. Some  day  in  the  infinite  future,  He  who  is 
the  sole  Master  in  this  school,  may  grant  some 


28  JESUS,  THE  TEACHER  OF  PRAYER. 

of  these  explanations  that  naturalists  ask  for  so 
eagerly  that  he  may  or  may  not  do.  We  see  no 
reason  why  he  should.  As  we  take  food  and 
get  nourishment  from  it,  before  we  can  under- 
stand the  philosophy  of  nutrition ;  as  we  think  be- 
fore we  can  understand  the  laws  of  thought,  and 
move  before  we  can  understand  all  the  mysteries 
of  motion  ;  so  we  may  realize  all  the  advantages 
of  prayer  before  we  can  understand  its  place  in 
the  system  of  the  universe,  and  in  the  counsels 
by  which  the  universe  is  swayed.  If  a  truth  be 
ascertained,  and  the  mind  of  the  man  who  knows 
it  be  healthy,  no  dark  things  connected  with  the 
philosophy  of  it  will  disturb  his  faith.  Know- 
ing, as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  God  is  the  hearer 
of  prayer,  we  shall  not  be  stopped  in  our  prayers 
by  arguments  drawn  from  theoretic  difficulties. 
It  is  enough  for  the  present  that  Jesus  teaches 
the  practice  of  prayer  ;  we  can  wait  for  know- 
ledge of  the  philosophy. 


II. 

THE  lord's  prayer  GIVEN  AS  A  PATTERN. 

"  After  this  manner  therefore  pray  ye." — Matt.  vi.  lo. 
"When  ye  pray  say  .  .   ." — Luke  xi.  2. 

Aiithorizcd  and  Revised  Version, 

The  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  says, 
"  Moses  was  admonished  by  God  when  he 
was  about  to  build  the  Tabernacle,  for,  see, 
saith  He,  that  thou  make  all  things  according 
to  the  pattern  shewed  thee  on  the  mount."  *  We 
venture  to  borrow  this  phrase.  When  the 
disciples  said,  "  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray,"  the 
prayer  that  we  are  now  reading  was  shown  as  a 
pattern.  Here,  we  have  a  ground  plan  to  fill  in, 
and  on  whose  lines  we  may  build  the  structure 
of  our  petitions  every  time  we  pray. 

I.  Observe,  it  is  not  one  of  our  Lord's  own 
prayers  that  is  given  for  a  pattern.  This  we 
think  is  what  the  inquirers  mainly  meant  and 
asked  for.  When  the  sound  of  His  prayer  was 
over,  their  thought  was,  "  well,  this  is  prayer 
indeed,  would  that  we  could  pray  just  like  it — 
Lord,  teach  us  !  " 

*  Hebrews  viii.  5. 


30  THE  lord's  prayer 

Many  crude  and  random  words  are  now  in 
the  air  about  Christ  as  our  pattern.  "A 
Christian  is  one  who  aims  to  take  Christ  as 
his  pattern  in  everything,  is  he  not?"  When  a 
secularist  asks  you  this  question,  you  are  apt  at 
once  to  say  "Yes,"  for  what  is  thus  spoken, 
so  rings  Hke  a  truth,  and  so  looks  like  a  first 
principle,  that  you  let  it  pass  without  a  challenge. 
He  has  you  now.  Then  he  proceeds  to  argue 
that,  if  all  Christians  said  and  did  exactly 
similar  things  to  those  which  the  four  gospels 
report  Christ  to  have  said  and  done,  they 
would  dissolve  society,  and  the  world  would 
be  no  place  for  us  to  live  in.  Thus  he  works 
out  the  conclusion  that  no  one  is,  no  one  ever 
can  be,  a  thorough  Christian,  and  goes  on  to 
prove,  as  he  thinks,  that  the  creed  of  Christianity 
is  untrue  because  the  practice  of  it  would  be 
impossible. 

There  is  an  error  in  the  seemingly  indisputable 
statement  that  a  Christian  is  in  all  respects  to 
copy  Christ.  In  the  great  Puritan  allegory,  one 
old  pilgrim,  reviewing  his  life  as  he  stands  at 
the  brink  of  the  river,  is  reported  to  have  said, 
"  I  have  loved  to  hear  my  Lord  spoken  of,  and 
whenever  I  have  seen  the  print  of  His  shoe 
in  the  earth,  there  I  have  coveted  to  set  my 
foot  too."  His  words  make  an  echo  in  my 
heart,  yet  they  can  only  be  mine  with  an 
important  element  of  reserve.     I  see  the  foot- 


GIVEN  AS  A  PATTERN.  3  I 

mark  of  my  Lord  in  places  where  it  would  be 
proud  profanity  for  me  to  try  and  "  set  my 
shoe."  As  my  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King ;  as 
the  Sinless  One ;  as  the  Searcher  of  hearts  ;  as 
the  Revealer  of  truth  ;  as  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth,  who  is  always  right, — He  had  to  step 
where  it  would  be  death  for  me  to  venture  ;  and 
this  was  not  only  in  the  path  of  action  but  in 
the  path  of  prayer. 

See  Him  at  nightfall,  as,  amidst  the  gloom 
that  wavers  and  the  mist  that  clings, — when  the 
birds  are  still,  and  man  is  dropping  his  weary 
head  upon  the  pillow, — He  walks  with  grass- 
muffled  feet  up  the  steep  cleft,  through  the 
trees,  out  into  the  open  at  the  mountain  top, 
the  peaceful  infinite  above,  the  white  world 
below — there  to  be  alone  with  the  Father.  May 
I  go  up  into  that  holiest  place  with  Him, 
and  can  I  dare  to  tread  in  the  print  of  His  feet? 
Is  prayer  like  that  which  He  is  breathing  any 
rule  for  me  .''  Am  I,  though  His  follower,  bound 
thus  to  spend  my  nights .''  Surely  I  must  not 
be  in  despair  because  this  is  impossible;  I  have 
not  His  cup  to  drink.  His  Calvary  to  climb. 
He  walked  through  sublime  passages  of  prayer, 
not  as  a  sinner  such  as  I  am,  but  as  the  Saviour 
of  sinners  ;  He  prayed  as  the  Son  of  God,  who, 
in  His  adopted  nature  as  the  Son  of  man,  had 
but  three  years  in  which  to  accomplish  His 
awful   minisrty.       From    the    first,   only  what 


32  THE  LORD  S  PRAYER 

looked  like  a  little  moment  lay  between  Him 
and  Gethsemane ;  He  was  always  under  the 
shadow  of  that  cross  on  which  He  had  to  know 
the  utmost  secrets  of  agony,  and  on  the  efficacy 
of  which  all  salvation  depended  ;  no  wonder 
that  He  spent  long  nights  in  prayer.  You  might 
as  well  ask  me  to  walk  the  waves  like  Christ, 
to  heal  the  sick  like  Christ,  to  raise  the  dead 
like  Christ,  or  to  die  on  the  altar  of  sacrifice 
like  Christ,  as  to  pray  like  Christ.  Besides, 
being  alone  in  His  intercessions  as  the  Saviour, 
He  was  alone  as  the  perfect  man.  He  had  no 
sin  to  confess,  no  pardon  to  implore  ;  He  never 
joined  in  saying  "  Our  Father,"  but  when  speak- 
ing to  His  disciples  about  God,  made  the 
careful  distinction,  "  Your  Father  and  My 
Father.  Your  God  and  My  God."  There  must 
have  been  secrets  in  His  communion  with 
which  no  stranger  could  intermeddle,  and 
thoughts  as  much  beyond  our  comprehension 
as  His  work  is  beyond  our  power.  We  are  to 
be  like  Christ,  not  in  doing  the  like  deeds,  or 
in  saying  the  like  words,  but  in  having  the 
like  Spirit,  animating  us  in  the  infinitely  dif- 
ferent offices  we  have  to  fill,  and  works  we  have 
to  do  as  saved  sinners.  It  is  out  of  the  question 
that  we  should  offer  for  our  daily  prayer  the 
very  words  once  used  to  express  the  prayers  of 
Christ  for  Himself.  When,  therefore,  the  dis- 
ciples asked  for  a  pattern  that  they  might  pray 


GIVEN  AS  A  PATTERN.  33 

just  like  Christ,  the  spirit  of  this  the  opening 
sentence  in  His  reply  was — "  No,  your  prayers 
are  not  to  be  just  like  mine,  I  pray  after  that 
manner.  After  tliis  manner  pray  ye.  I  pray 
as  the  Lord;  but  when  ye  pray,  say," — and  then 
He  gave  them  these  words. 

n.  You  will  also  take  notice  that  this 
pattern  was  granted  after  the  petition — "  Teach 
us  to  pray  as  JoJin  also  taught  his  disciples. 
The  speaker,  and  those  for  whom  he  was  the 
spokesman,  had,  no  doubt,  been  in  the  school 
of  John  before  they  had  come  into  that  of  Jesus. 
Yet  you  are  ready  to  wonder  how  they  could 
have  thought  of  him  just  then.  They  had  just 
overheard  that  sacred  secret,  a  secret  prayer  of 
Jesus.  They  were  still  thrilling  in  the  sound 
of  it.  You  say  each  one  ought  to  have  felt 
his  whole  being  tenfold  alive  and  awake  in  that 
moment  of  glory  and  exaltation,  and  you  think 
there  ought  then  to  have  been  no  room  for  the 
memory  of  anything  mortal.  Yet  that  prayer  at 
once  reminded  them  of  their  old  master,  and 
their  first  wish  was  that  Jesus  would  use  John's 
method  of  teaching  them  to  pray.  He  must 
have  been  a  tremendous  man  to  leave  an  im- 
pression on  the  minds  of  his  scholars  that  was 
keen  even  in  the  sharpness  of  such  an  excite- 
ment. Surely  we  cannot  yet  have  realised  what 
he  was,  or  what  power  he  had  for  a  time,  on 
the   men  of  his   day.     After  a  night  of    four 


34  THE  LORD  S  PRAYER 

hundred  years,  up  sprang  this  flaming  morning 
star.  The  nation  was  startled  by  a  holy  novelty. 
When  all  the  romance  seemed  to  have  faded 
out  of  its  life,  and  all  its  religion  had  sunk 
into  common  place,  John  was  like  one  of  the 
old  prophets  alive  again.  We  must  not  sup- 
pose that  he  only  rang  the  monotone,  "  Repent, 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand  ! "  In 
this  phrase  is  given  only  a  summary  of  his 
sermons.  Though  we  have  no  preserved 
memorabilia  of  his  teaching,  it  is  certain  that 
there  was  great  variety  in  it.  Passages  written 
by  the  evangelists,  show  that  Pharisees  and 
Sadducees,  publicans,  soldiers,  and  persons  of 
every  class,  went  to  him  with  questions  of  con- 
science, and  had  his  counsel.  No  notes  survive 
of  the  instructions  he  gave  to  his  disciples,  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  some  of  these  were 
precious  as  the  gold  of  heaven,  and  naturally 
some  of  the  most  precious  would  be  on  the 
subject  of  prayer.  Perhaps  no  man  then  living 
knew  more  about  this  than  did  he.  "  Filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost "  from  his  childhood,  he 
had  lived  in  the  wilderness  in  all  weathers. 
When  the  wind  sang  dismally  along  the  river, 
when  the  sun  struck  down  with  silencing  blow, 
then  was  he  alone  with  God,  inspired  with  the 
thoughts  that  God  speaks  only  to  the  seeker 
who  dares  to  be  thus  alone.  He  was  specially 
a  man   of  prayer,  and  prayer  must  have  been 


GIVEN  AS  A  PATTERN.  35 

one  of  his  special  subjects  as  a  teacher.  He 
had  secrets  to  tell  about  it,  and  methods  to 
prescribe  which  his  disciples  would  think  match- 
less. We  cannot  by  any  means  agree  with 
those  expositors,  who  imagine  that  he  was  like 
the  Rabbis,  who  each  gave  to  the  students  of 
his  own  school  some  particular  form  of  prayer 
for  daily  repetition.  The  glory  of  John  as  a 
teacher  would  most  likely  be,  that  imitating 
no  Rabbi,  and  using  no  conventional  plan,  he 
would  teach  prayer  in  a  way  that  was  all  his 
own.  He  might  have  given  his  pupils  a  pattern, 
but  would  not  have  taught  by  pattern  only.  At 
the  same  time  it  is  probable  that  the  request, 
"  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray,  as  John  also  taught 
his  disciples,"  had  reference  in  the  first  instance 
to  the  grant  of  such  a  form.  Anyway,  there 
was  much  imperfection  in  it.  The  disciples 
had  no  right  to  speak  to  their  Lord  in  anything 
like  the  tone  of  dictation.  While  they  asked 
Him  to  teach  them,  they  told  Him  how  to  do 
it,  and  indicated  the  kind  of  teaching  they  pre- 
ferred. They  named  the  best  model.  They 
seemed,  as  they  pointed  to  John,  to  say,  there 
— we  want  you  to  give  us  a  form  like  one  of 
his  !  But  Jesus  passed  by  the  fault,  recognized 
the  necessity,  and  was  pleased  to  formulate  a 
prayer  for  the  help  of  their  weakness,  and  also 
of  our  own  ;  for  on  us  also  His  eye  rested  as 
He  gave  it,  and  all  who  are  trying  after  closer 


36  THE  lord's  prayer 

fellowship  with  God,  may  now  feel  their  way, 
think  their  way,  and  pray  their  way  through 
these  great  words. 

III.  Take  note  of  the  fact  that  this  pattern  ivas 
given  twice.  Christ  had  already  given  it  once, 
that  is,  in  the  sermon  on  the  mount.  These 
suppliants,  as  if  they  had  never  heard  of  it,  asked 
Him  to  give  what  He  had  already  given.  How 
was  this }  We  suppose  that,  besides  the 
disciples  who  came  from  John  to  Jesus  at  the 
commencement  of  his  ministry,  and  the  story  of 
whose  call  is  told  in  the  opening  of  the  fourth 
Gospel,  there  were  others  whose  enrolment 
came  later,  and  that  some  of  these  having  been 
with  John  during  the  first  delivery  of  the  Lord's 
prayer,  made  the  appeal  which  led  to  this,  the 
second  delivery. 

Strange  that  they  should  have  been  content 
to  miss  so  much !  Why  did  they  stay  with 
John  after  he  had  pointed  out  Jesus  to  be  the 
Saviour .''  and  how  could  they  stop  looking  at 
the  finger  post  instead  of  travelling  in  the  road  } 
Perhaps  they  considered  themselves,  so  to  speak, 
to  be  all  the  time,  scholars  in  Christ's  school, 
though  in  John's  class,  and  as  spiritual  infants, 
still  needing  his  elementary  lessons ;  perhaps 
they  understood  that  they  were  bound  to  wait 
with  him  who  said,  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
at  hand,"  until  that  kingdom  had  come;  perhaps 
there   were    times   when   he   wavered,   making 


GIVEN  AS  A  PATTERN.  3/ 

them  waver  ;  perhaps  as  his  fame  fell  away,  and 
his  strength  broke  down,  the  spirit  of  chivalry 
kept  them  at  his  side ;  perhaps  he  was  a  man, 
who  under  his  roughness  had,  as  rough  men 
sometimes  have,  a  loving  gentleness  that  held 
them  with  more  than  magnetic  charm.  But  one 
day  there  was  a  feast  in  the  castle,  perhaps  on 
the  very  floor  under  which  the  prophet  was  im- 
prisoned, when,  all  at  once,  amidst  flowers 
fragrances,  and  shooting  rays  of  gold  and  silver 
amidst  the  clink  of  drinking  cups,  and  the  crash 
of  pitiless  laughter,  a  dead  head  was  placed  on 
the  table  in  a  charger.  Whose  head  ?  John's 
disciples  knew.  It  was  the  head  of  their  dearest, 
their  most  revered  ;  of  the  man  who  had  said, 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God ! "  and  who  had 
taught  them  how  to  pray.  They  took  the  body, 
buried  it,  then  "  went  and  told  Jesus."  Did  they 
not  stay  with  him  from  that  time,  and  would  they 
not  say,  "  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  but  unto 
Thee .''  thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life "  .'* 
But  they  had  come  late  to  school !  They  had 
more  to  learn  than  their  class-mates.  They  had 
missed  the  sermon  on  the  mount.  Their  new 
companions,  spiritually  dull  and  slow,  had  not 
told  them  that  the  Lord  had  already  given  a 
pattern  of  prayer,  they  therefore  asked  for  one, 
and  the  compassionate  Saviour  gave  them  the 
substance  of  his  former  words.  This  was  only 
like    Himself,    the   Teacher   who    has    infinite 


38  THE  lord's  prayer 

patience  with  our  dulness,  stoops  to  us,  repeats 
His  lesson,  and  is  for  ever  saying,  "  Learn  of  Me, 
for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart." 

IV.  Let  me  now  remind  you  that  this  pattern 
of  prayer  must  always  be  taken  in  connection  zvit/i, 
atid  be  explained  by,  the  wliole  of  the  CJiristian 
revelation.  If  you  are  in  the  stir  and  current  of 
modern  thought,  spoken  or  printed,  you  will  often 
hear  one  man  say  "I  want  none  of  your  theology, 
give  me  the  sermon  on  the  Mount ;"  and  another, 
"  I  want  none  of  your  creeds,  the  Lord's  prayer  is 
enough  for  me;"  and  another,  "Jesus  Himself 
taught,  not  a  creed,  but  a  prayer."  There  is  a 
spirit  of  intolerance  abroad  usurping  the  name  of 
liberality.  Persons  will  tolerate  Christ  on  the 
Mount,  who  will  not  tolerate  Christ  on  the  Cross  ; 
they  will  tolerate  Him  as  giving  the  Lord's  prayer, 
but  will  not  tolerate  Him  as  the  living  way  for 
its  acceptable  presentation  ;  they  will  tolerate  all 
who  think  as  they  do,  distinguishing  them  as 
"  broad,"  while  those  who  differ,  they  brand  as 
"narrow."  It  is  common  for  disciples  in  this 
school  to  take  the  sermon  on  the  Mount,  in- 
cluding this  prayer,  as  containing  the  perfect 
fulness  and  finality  of  Christ's  teaching,  and 
because  they  think  it  does  so,  they  have  at 
least  a  dormant  belief  that  all  other  parts  of  the 
Bible  are  comparatively  inferior  if  not  needless. 
At  the  same  time,  they  regard  these  words  as 
so  wonderfully  plain  and  easy  as  not  to  need 


GIVEN  AS  A  PATTERN.  39 

explanation.  "  Is  it  not  an  odd  thing,"  writes 
one  whose  genius  gives  his  words  great  influence, 
"that  the  common  fishermen  and  boatmen  by 
the  Lake  of  Galilee,  understood  the  message 
that  Christ  taught  them  just  at  once  ?  and  now- 
a-days,  when  we  have  millions  of  churches  built, 
and  millions  of  money  spent,  and  tons  upon 
tons  of  sermons  being  written  every  year,  we 
seem  only  to  get  further  and  further  into  con- 
fusion and  chaos.  Fancy  the  great  army  of 
able-bodied  men  that  go  on  expounding  and 
expounding,  and  the  learning,  time,  and  trouble 
they  bestow  on  their  work,  and  scarcely  two  of 
them  agreed,  whilst  the  people  who  listen  to 
them  are  all  in  a  fog.  Simon  Peter  and  Andrew, 
the  sons  of  Zebedee,  must  have  been  men  of 
extraordinary  intellect.  They  understood  at 
once,  and  were  commissioned  to  preach."  We 
quote  this  as  a  fair  summary  of  opinions  now 
afloat  with  respect  to  theology  and  the  Lord's 
prayer,  but  we  venture  to  say  that  certain 
mistakes  run  through  these  opinions. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  take  this,  or  any  other 
sectional  part  of  revelation,  as  if  it  were  the 
whole.  All  words  spoken  by  Christ,  whether 
by  His  own  lips  directly,  or  by  men  whose  lips 
His  fire  had  touched,  are  of  equal  authority. 
The  New  Testament  is  one  Book,  It  is  now 
present  with  us  totally,  is  offered  to  us  at  once, 
is  all  before  us  at  the  same  time,  one  part 


40  THE  LORD  S  PRAYER 

as  well  as  another.  Take  one,  take  all.  We 
are  to  read  this  part  of  the  book  in  connection 
with  the  other  parts,  carefully,  constructively, 
putting  two  and  two  together,  and  trying  to  see 
how  all  the  parts  fit  into  one  development. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  treat  this  as  Christ's  final 
disclosure  of  grace.  That  was  given  gradually. 
The  sermon  on  the  Mount,  including  this  model 
of  prayer,  was  at  an  early  stage  of  it,  and  His 
earlier  words  are  to  be  explained  by  His  later. 
It  was  not  His  way  to  anticipate.  The  time 
had  not  come  for  Him  to  "speak  of  His  suffer- 
ings "  as  man's  way  to  God.  The  discourse  to 
which  this  prayer  belongs  is  a  description,  not 
of  the  Gospel,  but  of  the  kingdom  to  which  the 
Gospel  is  the  gate. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  say  that  this  part  of  the 
Scriptures  is  so  plain  as  not  to  need  exposition. 
The  multitude  did  not  understand  it,  or  they 
would  not  have  insisted  on  its  Teacher  being 
crucified.  His  disciples  did  not  understand  it 
until  the  facts  of  the  Gospel  were  accomplished 
and  the  spirit  was  given.  With  astonishing 
dulness  they  constantly  missed  their  Lord's 
meaning,  and  when  He  gave  them  this  prayer, 
so  far  from  seeing  what  it  meant,  it  seems  to 
have  slipped  from  their  memory,  and  they  at 
least  said  nothing  about  it  to  the  new  recruits. 

When,  therefore,  anyone  says,  "the  sermon 
on    the  Mount   is  gospel  enough    for  me,  the 


GIVEN  AS  A  PATTERN.  4 1 

Lord's  prayer  is  silent  about  the  doctrines  of 
the  Trinity,  the  Atonement,  justification  by 
faith,  and  the  regenerating  Spirit,"  we  might 
answer,  "  Who  gave  the  Lord's  prayer  ? — the 
Lord,"  the  Lord  who  has  been  crucified,  and 
who  offered  on  the  cross  the  sacrifice  by  which 
forgiveness  is  possible  ;  who  has  said,  "  I  am 
the  Way;"  who  is  our  "righteousness;"  "who 
ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us  ;  "  who 
has  told  us  that  we  "  must  be  born  again ;  "  and 
has  given  us  "  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Promise." 
All  the  prayer  is  in  harmony  with  these 
doctrines,  and  must  be  taken  in  connection  with 
them.  Speak  of  which  you  will,  the  Gospel  or 
the  Lord's  prayer,  the  one  is  woven  into  the 
text,  and  is  essential  to  the  completeness  of  the 
other. 

V.  It  is  a  pattern  meant  for  the  use  of  all 
the  children  of  God,  whatever  their  differences 
in  age,  capacity,  or  attainment.  Some  of  them 
belong  to  one  tribe,  some  to  another ;  some  are 
very  young,  some  very  old ;  some  have  been 
learning  for  half  a  century,  some  have  only 
entered  school  to-day ;  yet  this  is  for  them  all. 
"  Not  for  all,"  some  object.  So  far  from  think- 
ing with  those  who  regard  it  as  a  lesson  in 
prayer,  so  very  easy  that  it  is  too  simple  to  be 
simplified,  we  have  met  with  some  on  the  other 
hand,  who  regard  it  as  too  profound  for  the  use 
of  any  but  pilgrims  of  great  experience.     "  It 


42  THE  LORD  S  PRAYER 

is  SO  deep,"  we  have  heard  an  old  Christian  say, 
"that  I  never  teach  it  to  a  child."  As  this 
exposition  is  for  a  Household  Library,  pardon 
a  simple  household  story. 

Dr  Jonas  King  once  went  into  an  orphan 
school  for  infants,  stepped  on  to  the  platform, 
and  beckoned  the  children  to  stand  around  him. 

"So  this  is  an  orphan  school?"  said  he.  "  I 
suppose  that  if  I  were  to  ask  you,  you  little 
scholars  would  tell  me  that  you  have  no  father 
or  mother." 

Some  shrill  voices  said,  "  Yes." 

"  How  many  of  you  have  no  father .?  Answer 
by  holding  up  your  hands." 

There  was  a  forest  of  little  hands  held  up. 

"  So  you  have  no  father  1 " 

The  children  said  they  had  not. 

"  Now  say  the  Lord's  Prayer  .-*  " 

They  began,  "Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven — " 

"Stop,  stop!  "  said  the  doctor,  "is  that  right.''" 

They  began  again — "  Our  Father — " 

"  Stop  again,"  he  said.  "  Did  you  say.  Our 
Father  ?  Yes,  you  are  right,  you  have  a  Father. 
I  want  to  speak  to  you  about  Him." 

Then,  when  their  attention  was  awake,  he 
told  the  story  of  their  heavenly  Father's  love. 
The  Lord's  Prayer  was  not  quite  a  mystery  to  the 
congregation  of  infants. 

As  we  look  into  this  well,  we  look  through 
words   of    wonderful    clearness    down    into    a 


GIVEN  AS  A  PATTERN.  43 

wonderful  depth.  The  oldest  saint  has  not 
sounded  it,  yet  it  is  so  simple  that  even  a  child 
can  understand  enough  of  its  real  meaning  to 
make  it  his  own  real  prayer.  It  names  the 
whole  world's  wants,  yet  that  little  one  can  use 
it.  It  fits  the  child,  it  fits  the  man,  it  fits  the 
father  and  mother,  it  fits  the  youngest  saint, 
and  the  saint  with  reverend  head — 

"  On  which  from  opening  gates  have  shone. 
The  glories  of  the  great  white  throne." 

If  Christ  had  left  for  our  pathway  of  praying 
language,  words  of  passion,  or  utterances  of  sub- 
lime expression,  true  only  in  moments  of  rare 
light  or  exaltation,  that  sometimes  would 
not  have  been  true  prayer  for  us,  for  it  would  not 
have  fitted  our  average  life,  but  this  always  fits 
us.  It  fits  every  mood  and  stage  of  our  soul's 
history — it  fits  us  when  our  wants  are  few,  when 
our  pulsations  are  quiet,  when  our  thoughts  are 
level ;  it  fits  us  when  we  are  just  beginning 
and  when  we  are  just  ending  our  journey.  So, 
when  I  am  but  a  very  young  child  of  the  Most 
High,  the  moments  of  weakness  will  be  rare 
indeed  when  I  cannot  speak  this  language,  and 
be  stronger  for  it,  but  if  I  have  just  come  down 
from  the  third  heavens,  feeling  that  henceforth 
I  shall  be  more  than  I  ever  yet  have  been,  all 
the  life  of  my  soul  rides  out  in  these  words, 
and  by  this  expression,  that  life  gets  to  be  more 


44  THE  LORD  S  PRAYER 

strong,  rapid  and  victorious.  The  prayer  is,  to 
borrow  the  beautiful  words  of  Augustine, 
"  Httle  to  the  little  and  great  to  the  great. 
Each  word  is  a  seed,  and  the  growing  power  of 
the  praying  life  we  put  into  it,  gradually  makes 
it  throw  off  the  husk  and  become  a  tree." 
Christ  has  taught  doctrines  in  human  words 
which  may  be  understood  more  or  less  by  every 
mind,  each  mind  having  its  own  separate 
power  of  understanding  them.  All  the  while, 
does  still  deeper  truth  lie  hid  in  his  language, 
waiting  to  be  growingly  discovered  by  growing 
grace — the  more  grace,  the  more  knowledge. 
As  it  may  be  said  of  Chemistry  and  Botany,  of 
the  arts  and  sciences,  of  music  and  beauty — their 
laws  do  not  stop  where  our  minds  lose  them  ; 
so  it  may  be  said  of  the  truths  here.  From 
infancy  to  age,  it  helps  everyone  who  has  in 
him  the  life  of  God,  to  fresh  visions  of  his  glory, 
fresh  discoveries  of  his  meaning,  and  no  part  of 
his  Word  should  make  us  more  ready  to  say 
with  Luther — "  I  adore  the  Divine  fulness  of 
Scripture." 

VI.  This  pattern  is  intended  to  fnrnisJi  certain 
rules  and  methods  of  prayer.  Some  of  these  we 
may  be  allowed  to  make  notes  of,  abstaining 
from  enlargement. 

Petitioners  are  here  taught  brevity.  A  classic 
biographer  says  of  one  who  made  a  great  show 
in  his  day,  yet  had  but  a  shallow  soul,  that  "  he 


GIVEN  AS  A  PATTERN.  45 

could  speak  much,  and  yet  say  little."  Some 
prayers  seem  to  be  after  this  standard.  Writ- 
ing to  the  Lady  Proba,  Augustine  reminds  her 
that  "  much  speaking  is  quite  a  different  thing 
from  much  praying." 

It  must  be  understood  that  this  has  no 
reference  to  secret  prayer.  Such  prayer  is 
seldom  too  long.  Perhaps  it  would  be  well  for 
some  of  us,  if  sometimes  we  rose  in  the  night, 
or  contrived  to  break  away  from  occupations  in 
the  day,  so  as  without  the  sense  of  hurry  to  wait 
upon  the  Lord  "  in  praying  silence  or  speech." 
Indeed  in  our  united  as  well  as  in  our  individual 
histories  there  may  be  special  times  calling  for 
special  continuance  in  supplication.  But  when, 
from  much  work  or  much  weakness,  we  are 
short  of  time  or  scant  of  breath,  it  inspirits  us 
with  new  vigour  to  read  how  the  Supreme 
Teacher,  after  telling  his  pupils  that  they  will 
not  be  heard  for  their  much  speaking,  gave 
them  this  scheme  of  devotional  words  as  if  from 
example  of  "the  much  in  little." 

They  are  taught  to  shun  vain  repetition.  Per- 
haps the  term  "  battology  "  which  is  thus  trans- 
lated in  our  English  New  Testament,  does  not 
merely  refer  to  the  repetition  of  words,  but  also 
to  their  senseless  multiplication,*  repeating  the 
same   prayer   in  our  devotional   appeal  is  not 

*  Matt.  vi.  7.  The  charge  M^/3aTToXo7?;(rr;rf  is  explained 
by  7roXi/Xo7ta  "  much  speaking." 


4-6  THE  lord's  prayer 

always  a  vain  thing,  for  Christ  Has  sanctioned 
it  by  his  own  example.  The  real  meaning  of  the 
charge  seems  to  be  "  babble  not."  It  has  often 
been  said  that  "  battology,"  the  word  used  by  the 
Evangelist  as  the  nearest  Greek  equivalent  for 
the  Syriac  word  used  by  our  Lord,  came  into 
circulation  and  grew  into  force  from  Battus,  the 
name  of  a  hymnist  known  proverbially  in  his 
day  for  saying  the  same  syllables  over  and  over 
again  in  his  addresses  to  the  gods.  Whether  so 
or  not,  the  habit  was  not  peculiar  to  him,  but 
has  been  the  mark  of  heathenism  all  time 
through,  and  all  the  world  over.  We  have  one 
sample  in  the  prayer  of  the  priests  who  cried 
from  morning  even  until  noon,  saying,  "  O  Baal, 
hear  us!"*  We  have  another  in  the  Ephesian 
mob,  shouting  for  two  hours,  the  liturgical 
phrase,  "great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians !  "-j-  In- 
stances have  been  quoted  from  poets  to  show 
how  the  fashion  belonged  to  all  ancient  idolatry. 
Indian  monks,  we   are  told,  echo  for  days  to- 

*  I  King  xviii.  26.     t  Acts  xix.  34. 

Gilbert  Wakefield  in  his  New  Translation  of  the  Gospel 
by  Matthew  (1782),  quotes  in  illustration:  Terence 
Heautont,  v.  880.  "  Ohe  !  jam  desine  deos,  uxor,  gratu- 
lando  obtundere  ....  illos  tuo  ex  ingenio  judicas,  ut 
nihil  credas  intelligere,  nisi  idem  dictum  est  centies. 
Pray  thee,   wife,   cease    from   stunning   the  gods   with 

thanksgiving unless  thou  judgest  them  by  thyself 

that  they  cannot  understand  a  thing  unless  the  same 
thing  is  repeated  a  hundred  times." 


GIVEN  AS  A  PATTERN.  47 

gether,  the  sacred  syllable  Uvi.  Hindoos  repeat 
the  name  of  Ram  over  and  over  thousands  of 
times.  Mahomedan  dervishes  keep  on  repeating 
the  word  for  God,  going  round  in  circles  while 
they  say  it,  until  they  faint.  Some  phrases  are 
repeated  thirty  times  in  a  single  Mahomedan 
prayer.*  A  more  remarkable  thing  however,  is 
the  way  in  which  professing  Christians  vainly 
repeat  the  very  prayer  given  by  their  Master 
as  an  antidote  to  vain  repetitions,  "f*  No  section 
or  class  of  Christians  can  claim  freedom  from 
the  sin  ;  not  one  can  venture  to  "  cast  the  first 
stone,"  and  say,  look  at  us,  we  never  utter 
needless  or  thoughtless  words  in  our  speech  to 
God — but  all  need  this  hint  from  heaven. 

They  are  taught  to  pray  using  these  very  words. 
The  second  announcement  of  the  pattern  was 
prefaced  by  the  phrase  "  when  ye  pray,  say,"  the 
language  following.  But  mark  the  proviso.  It 
implies  that  when  we  do  not  pray  we  may  not 
say  it.  The  point  is,  that  we  may  only  say  it 
when  we  do  pray.  Prayer  is  a  distinct  thing 
from  the  vehicle  of  prayer.     Beautiful  as  this 

*  "  Land  and  Book,"  26. 

t  See  Tholuck  on  Matt.  vi.  7.  He  says  'according 
to  the  Rosary,  the  Paternoster  (Patriloquia,  as  it  was 
called)  is  prayed  fifteen  times,  and  the  Ave  Maria  150 
times.'  We  have  in  a  Psalter  addressed  to  Jesus  the 
word  Jesu  repeated  fifteen  times  together,  with  only 
"  have  mercy  on  us,  help  us,"  intervening.  Beza  has 
said  "Battologis  pontificee  vel  Satanum  ipsum  pudent." 


48  THE  lord's  prayer 

frame  is,  it  is  only  a  vehicle  of  praying  life,  not 
a  substitute  for  it.  It  is  no  rigid  and  iron  en- 
closure holding  prayers  that  are  ready  made  for 
us  ;  it  is  no  petrified  prayer,  waiting  outside  our 
living  selves  ;  it  is  no  mere  lesson  that  we  may 
learn  with  diligence  and  repeat  with  senseless 
accuracy,  as  birds  learn  to  speak ;  it  is  no 
written  Paternoster  for  priests  or  saints  to  touch 
and  bless  ;  it  is  no  verbal  spell  to  conjure  with  ; 
but  it  is  a  divine  formula  which  we  may  use 
daily  to  our  unspeakable  advantage,  and  while 
it  is  a  model,  it  is  also  a  mould  through  which 
we  may  pour  out  our  new,  living,  flaming  sup- 
plications. 

/  It  is  a  social  prayer.  "  Souls  are  not  saved 
in  bundles,  the  Spirit  saith  to  the  man,  how  is 
it  with  thee — thee  personally  ?  "  *  So,  in  teach- 
ing us  to  pray,  Jesus  begins  with  the  individual. 
After  He  has  said  to  each  apart,  "  Thou,  when 
thou  prayest  enter  into  thy  closet,  and  when 
thou  hast  shut  to  thy  door,  pray  to  thy  Father, 
which  is  in  secret ;  "f  He  goes  on  to  say  "  after 
this  manner  pray  ye','  then  when  each  child 
has  been  with  the  Father  alone,  he  comes  out 
into  the  family  circle  and  joins  with  the  other 
children  in  this  praying  concert. 

They  are  taught  to  pray  "  after  this  matiner!' 
Such  is  His  own  phrase,  used   in  giving  this 
edict  of  grace  for  the  first  time.     "  After  this 
*  Emerson.  t  Malthcw  vi.  6. 


GIVEN  AS  A  PATTERN.  49 

manner,"  as  to  our  devotional  temper,  "  after 
this  manner"  as  to  the  things  to  be  sought 
for,  however  we  may  expatiate  or  particu- 
larize in  the  language  of  our  request,  every- 
thing we  need,  comes  under  the  head  of  one  or 
other  of  these  seven  summaries  or  breviates. 
"After  this  manner,"  as  to  the  order  of  our 
petitions  ;  so  that  we  may  give  to  each  petition 
its  right  place  in  the  scale  of  urgency,  and  its 
right  subordination  to,  or  power  over,  the  other 
petitions  in  the  train.  There  is  touching  pathos 
in  the  plaint  of  Job  : — "  O  that  I  knew  where 
I  might  find  Him  !  I  would  order  my  cause 
before  Him,  and  fill  my  mouth  with  argu- 
ments !"*  Important  as  he  felt  it  to  have  right 
arguments,  he  felt  it  to  be  also  important 
that  they  should  be  presented  in  right  order. 
By  the  framework  of  devotion  here  raised  for 
us,  Christ  teaches  us  this  right  order,  showing 
not  only  what  we  should  ask  for,  but  what  we 
should  ask  for  first,  what  next,  and  on  to  the 
end.  If  in  the  mere  mechanism  of  our  prayers, 
we  may  not  always  choose  this  progressive 
sequence,  we  must,  at  least,  keep  this  pattern 
before  us  as  a  general  guide  to  their  spirit 
and  structure.  "  It  is  a  regulator  by  which  all 
ages  should  set  their  devotions." -f- 

*  Our  pater  noster'is  apt  to  begin  at  panem  nostratn. 
Anthony  Faringdon,  Works,  iv.  p.  262,  1829. 
t  Hannah  More's  "  Sketches,"  &c.,  1819,  p.  472. 

D 


50  THE  LORD  S  PRAYER 

VII. — It  is  right  to  call  this  pattern  the  Lord  s 
Prayer.     This  title  has  been  strongly  disputed,  ^ 
but  we  still  stand  up  for  it,  regarding  the  ques- 
tion as  one  not  only  of  verbal  accuracy,  but  of 
practical  importance. 

Some  would  prefer  to  call  it  tJie  Rabbis 
prayer.  They  tell  us  that  Jesus  is  not  the 
author  of  it,  but  that  He  only  caught  up  certain 
Rabbinical  phrases  current  in  His  day,  and 
wrought  them  up  into  this  composition.  If  so, 
it  would  be  impossible  for  them  to  prove  it,  for 
no  written  collection  of  Rabbinical  sayings 
was  commenced  until  nearly  two  centuries 
later ;  but  what  if  they  could  prove  it .''  Say 
that  the  Rabbis  gave  some  of  their  sayings  to 
the  Lord.  Who  first  gave  them  to  the  Rabbis  t 
The  Lord.  "Truth,"  saith  St  Ambrose,  "by 
whomsoever  uttered,  is  of  the  Holy  Ghost."* 
It  is  possible,  indeed,  that  at  the  time  of  the 
Incarnation,  forms  of  petition  were  used  by 
certain  devout  "  masters  in  Israel "  with  which 
the  sentiments  of  some  petitions  in  the  Lord's 
prayer  are  in  harmony,  for,  "  with  the  Law  and 
the  Prophets,"  why  should  not  gracious  souls 
express  themselves  graciously  .''"•f*  In  that 
case,  however,  they  were  only  original  with 
Him  Who  in  all  ages  is  the  Teacher  of  prayer. 

*  "  Veritas,  a  quocunque  dicator,  a  spiritu  sancto  est." 
t  Note  on  Lord's  Prayer  in  Geikie's  "  Life  of  Christ." 
619. 


GIVEN  AS  A  TATTERN.  5  I 

The  Lord's  Prayer  was  not  culled  from 
Pharisaic  rosaries,  and  was  not  merely  made 
up  of  pearls  picked  from  the  dust-heaps  of  the 
Talmud.* 

Others  would  prefer  to  call  it  the  Disciples' 
Prayer.  They  say,  "  It  is  not  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  but  the  Disciples'  Prayer,  for  only  the 
disciples  are  to  offer  it.  We  might  as  well  say 
of  the  Remembrance  Feast,  it  is  not  the  Lord's 
Supper,  but  the  Disciples'  Supper,  for  only  the 
disciples  are  to  keep  it.  In  the  one  case  as  in 
the  other,  the  common  denomination  is  plainly 
the  correct  one  ;  for  the  social  use  of  this  prayer 
and  the  social  celebration  of  the  supper,  are 
alike  the  Lord's  appointment.  To  say,  "  our 
tongues  are  our  own,  who  is  Lord  over  us .-' 
We  are  our  own  judges  of  what  we  should  say 
in  prayer,  we  see  no  necessity  for  what  has 
been  urged  and  we  disallow  dictation,"  is  to  run 
a  great  risk  :  we  must  be  careful  lest  we  not  only 
slight  a  privilege  but  break  a  law.  The  Lord 
had  spoken.  The  disciples  said,  "  Lord,  teach 
us  to  pray,"  then,  accepting  the  title,  and 
exercising  the  authority  of  Lordship,  He  gave 

*  In  all  commentaries  now  within  reach  of  everybody, 
quotations  are  made  from  Lightfoot,  Wetstein,  Scottgen, 
and  others,  of  passages  collected  from  Jewish  sources, 
said  to  have  parallel  in  the  Lord's  Prayer.  One  need 
only  look  at  them  to  see  that  our  Lord's  teaching  was 
altogether  independent  of  anything  that  the  Jews  had 
already  taught  themselves. 


52   THE  LORDS  PRAYER  AS  A  PATTERN. 

this.  As  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  remembrance 
feast,  this  is  a  remembrance  prayer,  always  to  be 
in  our  ears,  always  before  our  eyes,  to  show 
what  we  should  pray  for,  and  how  we  should 
pray;  until  at  "our  Father's  loved  abode,  our 
souls  arrive  in  peace." 


III. 

THE   INVOCATION. 

"Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven." — Luke  xi.  2;  "Our 
Father  which  art  in  heaven." — Matt.  vi.  9.  Authorized 
Version. 

"  Father." — Luke  xi.  2.     Revised  Version. 

This  passage  is  in  two  parts,  and  for  the  sake 
of  greater  clearness  we  shall  think  of  the  two 
successively. 

I.  "Our  Father." 

In  the  revised  version  the  reading  of  the  text 
in  Matthew  is  that  of  the  ordinary  translation, 
but  the  reading  in  Luke  is  only  "Father." 
This,  however,  when  interpreted  by  the  con- 
nection, comes  to  the  same  thing,  for  if  we, 
with  all  the  other  children,  speaking  to  the 
same  Hearer  of  prayer,  say  "  Father  ! "  of 
course  we  mean  our  Father. 

I.  From  the  title  "Our  Father,"  applied  to 
God,  all  who  bow  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus  in- 
fer at  least,  and  before  anything  else,  that  God 


54  THE  INVOCATION. 

is  a  Person.  "  It  is  the  tendency  of  many- 
minds  to  regard  the  Deity  as  a  principle  rather 
than  as  a  person."  *  When  this  doctrine  rules, 
it  puts  prayer  out  of  the  question,  for  who  could 
pray  to  a  principle,  appeal  to  the  abstract  idea 
of  friendship,  supplicate  the  law  of  gravitation, 
or  intercede  with  the  unknown  essence  of 
infinite  space  ?  While  the  world  is  full  of  sun- 
shine, and  life  is  a  dream  of  enchantment,  you 
may  not  care  about  the  subject,  one  way  or  the 
other ;  but  when  you  have  to  pass  through 
sharp  tests,  stern  changes  and  black  storms,  the 
want  of  a  watching,  speaking,  looking,  listening 
God,  will  be  felt  as  an  infinite  want.  A  leader 
of  thought  in  Germany,  famous  as  a  poet, 
famous  as  a  man  of  letters — who  had  through 
his  long  literary  career  fought  against  the  idea 
of  a  personal  God, — when  poor  in  purse,  paralytic 
in  body,  and  in  his  last  week  of  life,  wrote  thus 
to  one  of  his  old  class-mates,  and  under  its  style 
of  banter  I  detect  a  pathetic  minor  of  earnest 
feeling. 

"  A  religious  re-action  has  set  in  upon  me  for 
some  time.  God  knows  whether  the  morphine 
or  the  poultices  have  anything  to  do  with  it.  It 
is  so.  I  believe  in  a  personal  God.  To  this  we 
come  when  we  are  sick  to  death  and  broken 
down.  Do  not  make  a  crime  of  it.  If  the 
German  people  accept  the  personal  King  of 
*  Chalmers's  "  Natural  Theolojrv." 


THE  INVOCx\TION.  55 

Prussia  in  their  need,  why  should  not  I  accept 
a  personal  God  ?  My  friend,  here  is  a  great 
truth.  When  health  is  used  up,  money  used  up, 
and  sound  human  senses  used  up,  Christianity 
begins," 

There  is  an  atheism  abroad  that  has  in  its 
language  a  tincture  of  almost  pious  devotion. 
Some  of  our  neighbours  are  trying  to  divorce 
Christianity  from  Christ,  and  to  have  a  religion 
for  their  God  instead  of  having  a  God  for  their 
religion.  Theorists  there  are,  who  call  them- 
selves Christians,  and  who  profess  their  belief  in 
the  usefulness  of  prayer,  who  yet,  when  asked 
if  they  believe  that  God  is  a  person,  will  answer 
— "  Not  exactly."  Perhaps  they  confuse  the 
idea  of  personality  with  certain  other  ideas  per- 
fectly distinct  from  it.  The  Avord  suggests  to 
them  the  idea  of  a  life  shut  up  within  the 
boundaries  of  form,  or  in  some  other  ways 
limited  like  the  life  of  human  beings — who  are 
the  orAy persons  they  know ;  and  perhaps  simply 
from  what  they  mean  to  be  reverence  for  the 
Great  God,  they  are  unable  to  regard  Him  as  a 
Person.  Yet  they  will  tell  you  in  confidence 
that  they  would  feel  uneasy  to  begin  the  day 
without  the  prayer  which  they  had  been 
accustomed  to  repeat  from  childhood.  What  is 
the  use  of  praying  to  that,  which,  not  being  a 
person,  cannot  hear  or  speak .-'  Extremes  meet. 
The  savage  who  prays  to  a  stone,  meets  on  the 


56  THE  INVOCATION. 

same  level  with  this  man  of  refinement.  We 
say,  in  the  words  of  the  mystic — 

"  To  own  a  God  who  does  not  speak  to  men, 
Is  first  to  own,  and  then  disown  again  ; 
Of  all  idolatry  the  total  sum 
Is  having  gods  that  are  both  deaf  and  dumb."* 

Jesus,  the  teacher  of  prayer,  has  given  us  the 
first  rule,  "when  ye  pray,  say  Our  Father." 
His  first  doctrine  therefore  is,  that  God  is  a 
Person.  You  never  say  Father  to  a  force; 
Father  to  a  law  ;  Father  to  a  mist ;  Father  to  a 
mile,  nor  to  infinite  millions  of  miles  in  a  line  ; 
"Father"  is  not  the  name  for  Thought  apart 
from  the  Thinker,  nor  for  Friendship  apart 
from  the  Friend ;  nor  for  a  Link,  though  the 
first  link  in  a  long  chain  of  grand  phenomena. 
If  we  mean  more  than  a  figurative  father,  we 
mean  by  that  word  a  living  Person.  In  our 
world,  sure  as  a  son  is  a  person,  a  father  is 
a  person ;  and  Fatherhood  implies  personality 
in  God,  truly  as  it  does  in  man. 

II.  The  title  "Our  Father"  belongs  to  God 
as  the  Father  of  all  mankind.  What  is  said 
now,  and  what  will  be  said  in  the  next  section, 
make  two  halves  of  one  complete  statement, 
and  must  be  taken,  not  separately,  but  together. 
I  say  now,  Man ;  whoever  you  are,  and  even 
though  you  are  now  under  a  sentence  that 
deprives  you  of  every  family  title,  the  glorious 
*  Dr  John  Byrom. 


THE  INVOCATION.  57 

Person  of  whom  we  have  been  speaking  is  your 
own  Father,  He  is  so  in  this  sense  :  all  human 
life  began  in  Him.  Although  He  has  given  us 
our  bodies  transmissively,  He  has  given  us  our 
souls  immediately;  it  is  the  doctrine  of  our 
philosophy  as  well  as  of  our  faith,  that,  while 
He  is  the  Framer  of  our  bodies.  He  is  the 
"Father  of  our  spirits,"  and  that  each  man  of  you 
received  his  soul  direct  from  God  as  the  first 
man  did.  Glimpses  of  this  truth  seem  to  have 
been  caught  in  the  twilight  of  ancient  Heathen- 
ism. Ages  before  the  Gospel  sunrise,  a  poet 
had  spoken  of  the  supreme  Spirit  as  "Father 
of  gods  and  men."  The  name  Jupiter  was 
compounded  of  Deus  and  Pater ;  and  the  like 
sentiment  was  breathed  in  a  certain  Greek 
verse*  quoted  by  Paul  in  his  oration  to  the 
men  of  Athens,  and  which  was  at  the  same 
time  turned  by  him  into  an  argument  against 
idolatry.  "  As  certain  even  of  your  own  poets 
have  said  '  for  we  also  are  his  offspring.'  For- 
asmuch as  ive  are  the  offspring  of  God  " — we 
thinkers,  we  reasoners,  we  sculptors,  whose 
magic  almost  makes  the  marble  breathe, — we 
who  have  wills  of  our  own,  we  who  have  love, 
conscience,  and  all  the  powers  of  personality, 
"  we  ought  not  to  think  the  Godhead  " — that  is, 
to  think  that  our  Father  "  is  like  unto  gold,  or 

*  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  gives  several  instances  of  this 
kind  in  his  "  History  of  the  World."     Book  I.  section  2. 


58  THE  INVOCATION. 

silver,  or  stone,  graven  by  art  and  man's  device"  * 
The  argument  is,  "as  certain  of  your  poets 
have  said,"  so  it  is,  God  is  your  Father ;  then, 
appeaHng  to  the  principle  "like  father,  like  son," 
he  blames  them  for  paying  the  honour  due 
only  to  their  Father  to  that  which  is  no  relation 
to  them  whatever,  but  altogether  of  another 
and  an  inferior  nature.  In  doing  so  he  takes 
this  old  sentence  from  their  literature,  stamps 
it,  gives  it  currency  as  a  divine  saying,  and  it  is 
now  a  doctrine  welded  into  the  sacred  text, 
that  even  idolaters  are  "  the  offspring  of  God." 

It  is  true  that  "  all  have  sinned  and  come 
short  of  the  glory  of  God."  It  is  true  that 
while  men  are  "  alienated  from  the  life  of  God," 
God  is  nothing  to  them,  as  the  most  tremendous 
reality  in  the  living  world  is  nothing  to  the 
dead.  And  it  is  true  that  no  one  while  in  that 
state,  or  on  the  strength  of  the  creative  tie,  has 
a  right  to  a  child's  place  or  a  child's  inheritance 
yet  it  is  also  true  that  God  is  the  Author  of  all 
human  being, — this,  once  a  fact,  is  always  a 
fact.  Speaking  to  all  men,  however  wide  their 
wandering,  or  deep  their  fall,  we  are  permitted 
to  say.  Although  sin  has  destroyed  the  filial 
spirit  in  you,  and  made  you  by  your  own  act, 
outcasts  from  the  presence  of  God,  the  change 
is  not  in  Him,  but  in  you.  He  is  to  you,  not  a 
foe,  not  a  stranger,  not  a  taskmaster,  not  even  a 
*  Acts  xvii.  28,  29. 


THE  INVOCATION.  59 

king-,  first  of  all, — but  a  Father.  In  Him  is 
an  infinite  store  of  unappropriated  love,  and  of 
power  waiting  to  be  trusted.  Why  are  you  so 
slow  to  believe  in  this  glorious  reality .''  When 
your  children  go  wrong,  do  yoti  fathers  cease  to 
be  fathers  ?  Do  you  not  care .-'  Have  they 
become  nothing  to  you  .'' 

A  rumour  once  reached  Andrew  Fuller  that 
his  wild  son  Robert,  w^ho  had  been  impressed  as 
a  sailor  on  board  a  man-of-war,  had  been  tried 
for  desertion,  and  had  died  under  the  infliction 
of  a  stern  sentence.*  The  father's  words  about 
this,  have  condensed  into  them  all  the  agony  of 
grieved  affection,  and  seem  like  bitter  drops  of 
distilled  pain  : 

"  In  former  cases  my  sorrow  found  vent  in 
tears  ;  but  now  I  can  seldom  weep.  A  kind  of 
morbid  heart-sickness  preys  upon  me  from  day 
to- day.  Every  object  around  me  reminds  me 
of  him!  Ah!  .  .  .  He  was  wicked,  and 
mine  eye  was  not  over  him  to  prevent  it  ;  .  . 
.  .  He  was  detected  and  tried,  and  con- 
demned ;  and  I  knew  it  not ;  .  .  .  He  cried 
under  his  agonies,  but  I  heard  him  not ;  .  .  . 
He  expired 'without  an  eye  to  pity  or  a  hand  to 
help  him!  .  .  .  O  Absalom  my  son!  my 
son  !  would  God  I  had  died  for  thee,  my  son!  " 

Does  any  father  think  this  the  language  of 
extravagance  ?     Did  not  this  father  feel  so  much 

*  This  rumour  was  afterwards  proved  to  be  false. 


6o  THE  INVOCATION. 

for  this  wanderer,  just  because  he  was  a  wise 
and  good  man  ?  Is  there  less  concern  on 
account  of  rebellious  sons  in  the  heart  of  the  wise 
and  good  God  ?  and  is  human  paternity  more 
tender  than  the  divine  ?  Is  there  no  pity  in  the 
cry  "  Hear  O  heavens,  and  give  ear  O  earth  ; 
.  .  .  for  I  have  nourished  and  brought  up 
children,  and  they  have  rebelled  against  me  ? " 
Hear  how  he  vindicates  his  parental  character : 
"  How  shall  I  give  thee  up,  Ephraim  ?  How 
shall  I  deliver  thee,  Israel  ?  How  shall  I  make 
thee  as  Admah  ?  How  shall  I  set  thee  as 
Zeboim  ?  mine  heart  is  turned  within  Me ;  my 
repentings  are  kindled  together ;  I  will  not 
execute  the  fierceness  of  mine  anger,  I  will  not 
destroy  Ephraim ;  for  I  am  God  and  not  man" : — 
not  less  than  man^  but  infinitely  more. 

We  endorse  the  sentiments  on  the  Father- 
hood of  God  expressed  by  Luther.  He  was  one 
day  catechising  some  country  people  in  a  village 
in  Saxony.  When  one  of  the  men  had  repeated 
these  words,  "  I  believe  in  God  the  Father 
Almighty,"  Luther  asked  him  what  was  the 
meaning  of  "Almighty".'  The  countryman 
honestly  replied  "  I  do  not  know  ; "  "  Nor  do  I 
know,"  said  the  catechist,  "  nor  do  all  the  learned 
men  in  the  world  know  ;  however,  you  may 
safely  believe  that  God  is  your  Father,  and  that 
He  is  both  able  and  willing  to  save  and  protect 
yourself  and  all  your  neighbours."  "  Almighty 
God  is  the  lovely  Father  of  mankind." 


THE  INVOCATION.  6 1 

III.  God  is  "our  Father,"  tJirough  Jesus  Christ. 
We  proceed  to  this  statement,  on  the  principle 
ah-eady  noted,  that  this  pattern  of  prayer  must 
always  be  taken  in  connection  Avith,  and  as 
explained  by,  the  whole  of  the  Christian  reve- 
lation of  which  it  forms  a  part.  This  revela- 
tion as  given  by  Christ  in  person  began  in  His 
discourse  to  Nicodemus.  Speaking  to  "the 
master  in  Israel"  in  the  dialect  of  ceremonies 
which  he  was  supposed  to  understand  pro- 
fessionally, and  as  a  matter  of  course — Jesus 
said,  "Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and 
of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  God,"  "ye  must  be  born  again." 
There  is,  so  it  seems  to  us,  a  plain  refer- 
ence to  the  prophecy  of  Ezekiel.*  "  Then 
will  I  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you  and  ye 
shall  be  clean."  .  .  .  "a  new  heart  also 
will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  with- 
in you:  "-f-  The  water  spoken  of,  being  that 
which  was  familiar  to  the  Jewish  worshipper 
water  stained  by  the  blood  of  sacrifice,  and 
called  "clean"  in  a  ceremonial  sense,  because 
in  that  sense  it  made  clean  the  man  on  whom  it 
was  sprinkled.  The  fulfilment  of  the  type 
shewn  in  the  "water"  is  therefore  now  to  be 
found  in  "the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  ....  which 
cleanseth  from  all  sin."  Reading  the  whole  of 
what  Christ  said  to  this  enquirer,  we  see  that 
*  John  iii.  5,  6,  7.  t  Ezekiel  xxxvi.  25,  26. 


62  THE  INVOCATION. 

the  Spirit  is  the  agent  of  regeneration,  that 
"  the  precious  blood  "  is  the  instrument  of  it, 
that  faith  on  man's  part  is  the  medium  for  re- 
ceiving it,  and  that  the  first  act  of  that  faith  is 
identical  in  time  with  the  first  moment  of  the 
"life  everlasting,"*  "For  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish, 
but  have  everlasting  life."  So  does  He  "devise 
means  that  his  banished  be  not  expelled  from 
Him."-!*  When,  for  every  purpose  of  communion, 
sin  has  dissolved  the  original  tie  of  sonship,  thus 
does  He  answer  His  own  question  to  the  sinner, 
**  How  shall  I  put  thee  among  the  children  ?  "  | 
God  was  in  Christ,  therefore,  in  giving  ///;//  He 
gave  Himself.  His  rebel  children  would  not 
believe  that  He  loved  them.  They  always 
thought  that  He  had  to  be  placated  by  some 
terrible  sacrifice  of  their  own.  Jesus  came  to 
show  that  they  had  quite  misunderstood  the 
Father,  and  that  the  Father  by  the  gift  of  His 
own  Self  in  His  own  Son,  would  give  the  atone- 
ment which  they  had  supposed  Him  to  demand. 
In  the  moment  when  we  begin  vitally  to  know 
this,  and  to  trust  ourselves  to  it,  we  begin  in  reality 
to  live,  for  in  that  moment  the  new  and  ever- 
lasting life  is  born.  True,  God  is  already  our 
Father,  and  while  we  are  still  in  rebellion  He  so 

*  John  iii.  i6.  t  2  Sam.  xiv.  14. 

X  Jeremiah  iii.  19. 


THE  INVOCATION.  6^, 

loves  us  as  to  ofifer  us  the  "  Unspeakable  Gift," 
but  if  we  refuse  it,  this  Fatherhood  may  not  law- 
fully keep  us  from  perishing.  The  Fatherhood 
that  saves,  begins  not  with  the  first  creation,  but 
with  the  second  ;  not  when  we  are  born,  but 
when  we  are  born  again.  So  Christ  teaches  us 
in  His  first  discourse  on  Salvation,  and  in  His 
last,  we  hear  Him  say,  "  I  am  the  way,  and  the 
truth,  and  the  life,  no  man  cometh  to  the  Father 
but  by  me."* 

Besides  his  own  direct  instructions,  we  have 
the  following  and  similar  words  written  by  his 
inspired  scribes:  "He  came  unto  his  own,  and  his 
own  received  him  not.  But  as  many  as  received 
him,  to  them  gave  he  power  to  become  the  sons 
of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  his  name ; 
which  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of 
the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God."  •!- 
"Whosoever  believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ, 
is  born  of  God."  |  "//"  any  man  be  in  Christ, 
he  is  a  new  creature  ;  old  things  are  passed 
away ;  behold,  all  things  are  become  new."  § 
"  Ye  are  all  the  children  of  God  by  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus."  5[  "And  because  ye  are  sons, 
God  hath  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into 
your  hearts,  crying,  '  Abba,  Father.'  "  || 

Then,  after  all,  some  will  say,  your  doctrine 

*  John  xiv.  6.  t  John  i.  ii,  12,  13. 

t  I  John  V.  I.  §  Cor.  v.  17. 

^  Gal.  iii.  26.  11  Gal.  iv.  6. 


64  THE  INVOCATION. 

of  the  Divine  Fatherhood  comes  practically  to 
this, — that  He  is  only  the  Father  of  a  few- 
Christians.  According  to  you,  miUions  of  the 
human  race  who  have  the  natural  right  to  say 
"  Our  Father,"  are  no  better  for  that  right, 
because  they  know  nothing  of  Christ  who  is  the 
only  way  to  the  Father.  This  is  not  what  I 
say.  The  most  of  what  I  venture  to  say  may 
be  cast  into  the  form  of  two  suppositions : — 
Suppose  on  the  one  hand  the  case  of  a  man 
brought  up  with  a  Christian  education  and  liv- 
ing in  a  Christian  atmosphere,  holding  in  his 
hand  or  having  within  his  reach,  the  whole 
gospel  revelation ;  suppose  that  man  shall 
make  a  small  selection  from  it  and  fling  away 
the  rest — suppose  that  he  will  not  accept  the 
doctrine  of  sacrifice,  will  not  own  himself  be- 
holden to  Jesus  Christ  for  salvation, — suppose 
him  to  say,  I  scorn  theology,  I  repudiate  media- 
tion, I  will  go  on  my  own  responsibility  straight 
into  the  presence  of  God,  and  shall  deem  it 
enough  to  repeat  this  beautiful  Lord's  Prayer — 
would  that  prayer  be  accepted  ?  Not,  certainly, 
if  the  words  just  cited,  which  reveal  the  way  of 
a  sinner's  access  to  God,  are  true — and  true  they 
must  be,  for  they  are  the  words  of  God.  Indeed, 
if  prayer  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  act  of  faith, 
this  would  not  be  a  prayer  at  all,  for  it  would 
not  be  an  expression  of  faith.  No  man  can  be 
said  to  have  faith  in  God  who  has  not  faith  in  all 


THE  INVOCATION.  65 

God's  plain  words.  If  the  gospel  be  true,  to 
utter  even  the  Lord's  Prayer  without  acceptance 
of  the  gospel  is  to  defy  the  law  of  God  and  to 
refuse  His  love. 

On  the  other  hand,  take  the  case  of  some 
poor  waif  of  humanity,  young  or  old,  in  our 
land  or  in  any  other,  who  had  never  even  heard 
the  name  of  Jesus,  knowing  nothing,  but  feeling 
much  ;  sorry  for  sin,  yearning  for  love,  suppose 
him  just  to  say  out  of  his  heart  these  two  words 
— "  Our  Father,"  having  heard  them  spoken 
somewhere — I  should  say  that  such  a  prayer 
was  prompted  by  the  unknown  Holy  Spirit  and 
accepted  through  the  unknown  J«esus.  I  am 
reminded  of  the  man  healed  by  Jesus,  of  whom 
it  is  said,  "  he  that  was  healed  wist  not  that  it 
was  Jesus."  There  would  be,  I  think,  in  that 
poor  suppliant's  heart,  and  ready  to  spring  from 
his  lips,  the  question — "  Who  is  the  Lord,  that 
I  might  believe  ? "  Though  he  does  not  know 
him  yet,  he  will  know  him  soon.  The  dawn 
has  begun  that  will  shine  "  more  and  more  unto 
the  perfect  day." 

I  do  not  know  the  secret  history  of  our 
ignorant  prayers  in  their  movement  in  the 
mediatorial  counsels  of  God.  I  do  not  know 
how  far  the  efficacy  of  the  dying  intercession 
extends — "  Father,  forgive  them,  they  know 
not  what  they  do  ! ''  I  do  not  know,  definitely, 
but  I  indulge  the  happy  thought  that  through 
E 


6  THE  INVOCATION. 

Jesus,  when  there  has  been  no  opportunity  for 
Him  to  be  heard  of,  many  a  prayer  Hke  a 
rocket  of  distress  shot  up  from  the  wild  sea  and 
the  dark  night,  has  brought  help  from  the 
heavenly  Father.  It  is  gloriously  true  that  the 
Fatherhood  in  the  thought  of  which  Christians 
rejoice,  is  the  correlative  of  that  sonship  which 
we  receive  when  we  believe.  For  all  that,  I 
would  say  do  not  wait  to  utter  this  prayer  until 
you  are  sure  that  you  are  regenerate.  Let  any 
one  of  the  race,  conscious  or  unconscious  of 
regeneracy,  cry  out  these  words  from  the  depths 
of  his  life,  then  that  fact  will  be  a  proof  that 
Jesus  is  teaching  him  to  pray,  and  a  prophecy 
that  his  prayer  will  be  heard. 

IV.  In  teaching  us  to  say  "  02ir  Father," 
Jesus  would  remind  us  of  our  Brotherhood. 
Common  prayer  to  the  common  Father,  suggests 
a  common  interest,  and  helps  to  keep  it  alive. 
Sin  separates.  The  sinner  is  an  egotist.  The 
motto  of  the  world  is,  "  Every  man  for  himself." 
An  isolating  principle  is  at  work  in  every  one 
who  has  turned  his  back  on  the  Father,  the 
result  of  which  is  seen  when,  in  the  language  of 
the  world's  own  shrewd  vernacular,  his  one 
thought  is  for  "  number  one."  This  is  mirrored 
in  the  parable  of  the  prodigal.  When  the 
younger  son  left  the  Father,  he  wished  to  divide 
his  interests  from  those  of  his  brother;  and  his 
demand   was — "  give   me  the  portion  of  goods 


THE  INVOCATION.  67 

that  falleth  to  me ;  but  when  he  came  back,  his 
greatest  joy  was  to  be  received  as  one  of  the 
family.  The  individual  child  is  not  indeed 
merged  in  the  family ;  but  though  each  one 
may  and  must  pray  for  himself,  and  say  "  my 
Father,  give  me  my  daily  bread,  forgive  me, 
lead  me;  at  the  same  time,  every  one  whose 
heart  beats  with  the  new  life,  will  not  only  sing 
a  new  song,  but  breathe  a  new  prayer — this 
prayer,  that  rises  in  concert  with  all  the  family 
and  that  opens  with  the  cry.  Our  Father ! " 

First  and  chiefly  are  we  reminded  by  it  oi  the 
fellows  J  lip  that  knits  together  Gods  elect.  On 
the  evening  before  his  death,  Dr  Chalmers, 
while  walking  in  his  garden,  was  overheard  to 
say  in  earnest,  low  tones,  "  O  my  Father,  my 
heavenly  Father!"  When  I  can  say  that,  then 
any  man  in  the  world  who  can  also  say  it,  is 
my  brother.  "  Dost  thou  see  a  soul  that  has 
the  image  of  God  in  him  ?  Love  him,  love  him  ! 
This  man  and  I  must  go  to  heaven  some  day. 
Love  one  another,  do  good  to  one  another." 
This  charge  to  all  the  holy  brethren  spoken  by 
John  Bunyan  in  his  last  sermon,  has  lost  none 
of  its  point  by  change  of  circumstances,  none  of 
its  sacredness  by  lapse  of  time  ;  I  must  not, 
however,  insist  on  seeing  in  a  soul  all  that 
special  family  likeness  which  Bunyan  calls  the 
image  of  God,  before  I  give  that  soul  my  love, 
nor  must   I    mistake  for  love  what  is   only  a 


68  THE  INVOCATION. 

romantic  tenderness  for  the  distant  or  the  dead — 
for  the  distant,  whom  I  suppose  to  show,  for 
the  dead  whom  I  suppose  to  have  shown,  this 
likeness,  more  than  it  is  shown  by  Christians 
living  near  me  now.  Christians  living  now,  and 
with  whom  I  have  now  to  do,  may  sorely  try 
my  loving  power ;  but  so,  if  brought  into 
actual  contact  with  them,  would  those  have 
done  whom  I  exalt  as  my  ideals.  Much  of  the 
charm  that  good  men  of  other  lands  or  times " 
may  have  for  me,  may  be  but  the  charm  of  that 
"  distance  which  lends  enchantment  to  the  view  ;" 
or  the  magic  tinting  of  a  visionary  picture ; 
contact  with  their  very  counterparts  living  in 
my  own  land  and  time  might  shatter  my  dreamy 
preconceptions,  and  make  my  radiant  fancies 
fade.  Let  me  be  sure  of  this  and  act  on  it ;  if 
I,  and  the  man  at  whom  I  am  now  looking, 
are  both  in  Christ,  he  and  I  are  brothers,  and 
"  brothers  evermore."  Whatever  may  be  the 
drawback,  whatever  the  weakness,  whatever 
even  the  vulgarity  on  the  surface — there  is  the 
family  life  below — sense  under  the  nonsense, 
soul  under  the  body,  truth  under  all  the  mis- 
takes ;  within  the  earthern  pitcher  the  fire ; 
behind  the  rough  shell  the  pearl  ;  beneath  the 
ragged  thistles  and  stinging  nettles  of  the  field, 
the  treasure ;  and  concealed  for  the  present  by 
much  that  may  excite  the  scorn  of  the  foolish 
and  the  pity  of  the  wise,  that  which  will  shine 


THE  INVOCATION.  69 

out  gloriously  in  the  day  of  "the  manifestation 
of  the  Sons  of  God."  Not  only  am  I  one  with 
that  man,  but  one  with  all  the  multitudes  who 
hold  "  like  precious  faith." 

"  Our  teachers  taught  that  one  and  one  make  two. 
Later,  Love  rules  that  one  and  one  are  one." 

Later  still,  the  love  of  God  works  a  greater 
wonder,  for  grace  turns  millions  into  one.  "  We 
who  are  many,  are  one  body  in  death."  The 
waves  are  many,  the  sea  is  one ;  the  boughs  are 
many,  the  vine  is  one  ;  the  stones  are  many,  the 
temple  is  one  ;  the  children  are  many,  the  family 
is  one  ;  and  as  one  family,  we  say,  "Our  Father  !" 

While  "  in  spirit  and  in  truth  "  we  pour  out 
our  prayers  in  these  divine,  delightful  words, 
we  pray  down  blessings  not  on  ourselves  re- 
strictively,  but  on  the  church  at  large.  If  we 
believe  in  the  real  power  of  prayer,  we  must 
believe  that  this  prayer  which  we  offer  as  a 
family,  has  real  power  to  bless  us  as  a  family. 
I  gain  good  from  it  as  offered  by  my  brothers 
and  sisters  ;  they  gain  good  from  it  as  offered 
by  me.  In  some  sense,  sometimes  traceless,  but 
always  true,  multitudes  whom  I  have  never 
heard  of,  and  who  have  never  heard  of  me, 
are  the  better  for  it.  Ordained  by  God,  it  has 
an  instrumental  value  and  a  mystic  potency  in 
fetching  down  daily  supplies,  daily  applications 
of  forgiving  love,  daily  shelters  from  temptation 


70  THE  INVOCATION. 

and  daily  deliverances  from  evil  in  which  all  the 
children  share.  "  There  is  a  certain  spiritual 
traffic  of  piety  betwixt  all  God's  children, 
wherein  they  exchange  prayers  with  each  other. 
Am  I  weak  in  spirit  and  faint  in  my  supplica- 
tion }  I  have  no  less  share  in  the  holiest 
suppliants  than  in  my  own :  while  there  is  life 
in  their  devotions,  I  cannot  go  unblessed."  Such 
is  Bishop  Hall's  commentary.  And  Leighton, 
with  the  like  spirit  says,  "  Every  believer  hath 
a  share  in  the  prayers  of  all  the  rest,  he  is  a 
partner  in  every  ship  of  that  kind  that  goes  out 
to  sea,  and  hath  a  portion  in  all  their  gainful 
voyages." 

Besides  the  good  from  it  shared  by  all  Chris- 
tians, there  is  a  further  benefit.  "  Our,"  is  a  zvord 
of  love  that  takes  in  all  men,  for,  "  have  we  not 
all  one  Father  }  Hath  not  one  God  created  us" } 
Those  who  offer  it  with  more  or  less  conscious- 
ness, in  the  name  and  grace  of  Christ  pray  for 
and  try  to  pray  with  all  men.  As  belonging  to 
the  human  race  they  pray  that  the  good  things 
here  named  may  be  given  to  the  human  race, 
where  they  are  wanted.  In  the  spirit  of  the 
prophet,  when  he  said  *'  unto  us  a  child  is  born, 
unto  us  a  Son  is  given,"  in  the  spirit  of  the 
Apostle  who,  speaking  to  an  angry  crowd,  said, 
"  Men  and  bretJiren^'  the  disciple  who  makes 
this  his  prayer  honours  all  men,  carries  out  the 
rule  "  add  in  your  love  of  the  brethren,  love,  * — 
*   Malachi  ii.  lo.      2  Peter  i.  7 — Revised  Version. 


THE  INVOCATION.  7 1 

love  to  those  outside  the  church,  love  after  the 
pattern  of  the  great  love  wherewith  God  loved 
us,  even  when  we  were  dead  in  sins." 

II. 

We  now  come  to  the  second  section  of  the 
verse — "  which  art  in  heaven." 

There  is  a  relation  between  the  word  "heaven" 
and  the  word  "  heave."  We  have  these  words 
from  our  Saxon  fathers,  who  were  not  given  to 
think  ideally,  and  who,  pointing  up  to  that  life 
or  state  of  life  which  they  thought  of  as  lifted 
or  heaved  by  the  Creator  to  the  utmost  possible 
glory  and  bliss,  called  it  "  heaven."  *  This  word 
gives  the  essence  of  the  meaning  conveyed  by 
the  Greek  original,  which  seems  to  have  been 
derived  from  a  root  signifying  "to  rouse,  or 
stir  up,"  and  which  therefore  suggests  height,  or 
elevation. f  Physical  altitude  has  always  been 
used  as  the  type  of  what  is  the  purest,  noblest, 
and  best ;  we  speak  of  high  standards,  high  prin- 
ciples, and  high  aims  ;  in  this  way,  we  find  that 
all  through  the  Bible,  the  word  "  heaven  "  repre- 
sents the  idea  of  loftiness,  and  the  two  phrases, 
"  high  as  heaven,"  "  deep  as  hell  "  express  the 
two  extremes  of  height  and  depth.  While  we 
confess  our  inability  to  unfold  the  import  or  to 
grasp  the  strength  of  the  word  heaven,  it  seems 

*  On  heofonum.  t  'Opw. 


'll  THE  INVOCATION. 

to  US  that  it  is  used  here  mainly  to  remind  us 
how  high  in  excellence  God  is  above  earthly 
fathers.  The  relation  He  sustains  to  us  is  too 
comprehensive  and  too  intimate  to  be  perfectly 
represented  by  any  earthly  tie,  but  that  in  which 
it  finds  its  nearest  equivalent,  and  from  which 
he  takes  His  favourite  name  is  "  Father  ;  "  but 
the  fatherhood  is  that  of  the  "high  and  lofty 
One,"  and  Father  "  in  heaven  "  means  "  Father 
in  perfection." 

I.  Perfection  of  love.  We  can  only  learn 
heavenly  things  from  earthly  types.  Looking 
at  such  types,  what  is  your  idea  of  what  a 
Father  should  be  .-'  At  least  you  understand  that 
the  word  represents  love — love  that  thinks,  love 
that  works  ;  the  love  of  one  who  is  wise,  who  is 
strong,  and  who  takes  trouble.  It  means  this 
in  man,  it  means  this  in  God,  and  to  perfection. 
Does  not  a  natural  father  take  pleasure  in  his 
child.-*  How  is  it  in  your  own  knowledge  and 
experience  .-*  Is  not  that  pleasure  in  your  heart 
one  of  the  most  pure  and  tender  that  you 
know  .''  Is  it  less  so  in  the  heart  of  the  heavenly 
Father  }  That  which  makes  a  father  gentle  to 
infant  weakness,  that  which  makes  him,  though 
"  master  of  sentences,"  listen  with  delight  to  his 
child's  first  stammering  speech,  that  which 
cheers  the  young  life  in  all  its  blundering  steps 
upward,  that  which  makes  a  father  pleased  when 
the  child  gets  on  well  at  school,  pleased  to  see 


THE  INVOCATION.  73 

his  own  likeness  come  out  in  the  child's  face  ; 
that  which  makes  him  live  in  his  loved  one's 
honour,  ready  to  die  in  his  shame ;  that  which 
makes  him  feel  no  gladness  like  that  in  his  son's 
promotion  ;  that  which  gazing  on  the  clawed, 
stained,  and  trampled  garment  brought  for  him 
to  look  at,  says,  "  It  is  my  son's  coat ;  an  evil 
beast  hath  devoured  him,  ...  I  will  go 
down  into  the  grave  unto  my  son  mourning ; " 
that  which,  after  all,  makes  him  willing  rather  that 
some  "  evil  beast  "  Jiad  devoured  him  than  that 
he  should  live  to  forsake  his  principles  or  cloud 
his  stainless  fame ;  that  which  makes  a  father 
"take  pleasure  in  infirmities ''  and  self-denial,  in 
working  days  and  sleepless  nights,  and  in  what- 
ever may  enable  him  to  lay  up  for  his  child, — 
a  pleasure  which  delights  to  be  trusted  and  which 
hungers  for  love  —  all  that  —  has  its  existence 
from,  and  its  highest  perfection  in,  Him  who  is 
our  Father  in  the  Highest. 

We  know  it  now.  But  there  was  a  time  when 
each  one  who  now  is  a  Christian,  was  ignorant 
of  it.  Perhaps  his  heart  said  to  God  "  Oh  Thou 
great  Iron  "  !* 

There  was  once  a  son  who  left  his  father's 
house,  and  went  to  "  a  far  country,"  that  he 
might  live  in  glorious  independence.  Divine 
influences   moved  in  his  heart  one  day,  and  a 

*  So  began  a  threatening  letter  to  Prince  Bismark, 
Berlin,  July  29,  1881. 


74  THE  INVOCATION. 

new  spirit  started  into  life.     He  was  like  an  out- 
cast saying  to  himself: — 

"  Does  that  lamp  still  burn  in  my  father's  house 
Which  he  kindled  the  night  I  went  away  ? 
I  tarried  once  beneath  the  cedar  boughs, 
And  marked  it  gleam  with  a  golden  ray ; 
Did  he  think  to  light  me  home  some  day  ? "  * 

"  Then  he  arose  and  came  to  his  father."  How 
he,  though  the  vilest  sinner,  sorry  for  his  sin,  was 
received,  is  told  in  the  well-known  tale  which 
is  a  prophecy  as  well  as  a  parable.  That  loving 
picture  of  a  father,  who,  in  the  gaunt,  weary, 
haggard,  tattered  tramp,  while  yet  "  a  great  way 
off,"  sees  his  long  lost  child,  rushes  out  to  meet 
him,  clasps  him  to  his  heart,  wraps  round  the 
rags  of  his  disgrace  the  folds  of  his  own  garment, 
weeps  over  his  neck  the  tears  of  enraptured  affec- 
tion, calls  for  the  best  robe,  and  has  struck  up 
for  him  the  music  of  the  instant  festival, — re- 
presents the  mighty  love  of  our  Father  to  us 
on  the  day,  when  through  the  secret  impulsion 
of  His  grace,  our  ragged,  starved  souls,  weary 
of  sinning,  weary  of  repenting,  weary  of  self — 
came  home  to  Him  ;  and  since  that  day,  we 
have  been  making  ceaseless  discoveries  of  that 
love ;  we  have  been  going  on  to  verify  the 
fulfilment  of  the  parable,  and  to  understand  the 
mysteries  of  the  ring,  the  robe,  the  sandals,  the 
feast,  and  the  music  of  God  Himself,  as  He 
*  Christina  Rossetti. 


THE  INVOCATION.  75 

"  compasses   us   about   with   songs   of  deliver- 
ance." 

Perfection  of  help.  "  If  ye  then,  being  evil, 
know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children, 
how  much  more  shall  your  Father  that  is  in 
heaven  give  good  things  to  them  that  ask 
him  V  *  That  word  "  if"  seems  meant  not  only 
to  imply  an  argument,  but  to  suggest  a  question. 
"  //"  ye  .  .  .  know  how ! "  Do  fathers  and 
mothers  always  know }  Look  at  Hagar,  when 
the  bread  was  gone,  the  water  spent,  and  Ishmael 
ready  to  die  of  want,  did  sJie  know  .-*  "  She  cast 
the  child  under  one  of  the  shrubs  " — and  "  she 
went  and  sat  down  a  good  way  off,  as  it  were  a 
bow-shot ;  for  she  said — Let  me  not  see  the 
death  of  the  child.  And  she  sat  over  against 
him,  and  lifted  up  her  voice  and  wept."  Look 
at  certain  times,  into  certain  houses  not  far  from 
your  own,  and  you  might  hear  a  child  ask  for 
bread,  and  then  hear  the  father  say  "there  is 
none."  He  would  help  but  he  does  not  know 
how.  When  the  tiny  frame  is  racked  with 
agony  ;  when  the  white  little  face  turns  on  the 
pillow,  when  the  lips  quiver  with  rapid  breath, 
and  no  words  come,  when  the  eye  of  pitiful 
entreaty  looks  into  the  father's  very  soul,  and 
seems  to  say  "cannot  you  help  me?"  what  can 
he  do  }  He  does  not  "  know  how  to  give  the 
good  things"  needful,  and  in  blind  sorrow 
Matthew  vii.  1 1. 


76  THE  INVOCATION. 

bursts  out  of  the  room.  It  is  natural  for  the 
father  to  be  the  helper  of  the  child.  The 
siiper-n3X\xYd\  is  not  the  contra-natural :  it  is 
only  nature  heightened  to  a  degree  above  any- 
thing that  we  can  understand.  God,  as  our 
helper,  because  he  is  our  Father  in  heaven, 
might  say  to  us  "  as  the  heavens  are  high  above 
the  earth,  so  " — in  helping  you,  "  are  my  ways 
higher  than  your  ways,  and  my  thoughts  than 
your  thoughts."  * 

Perfection  of  nearness  and  observation.  Joseph 
would  have  been  saved  from  the  rage  of  his 
brethren  in  the  day  when  they  sold  him  into 
slavery  if  his  father  had  been  looking  on.  It 
was  well  for  the  little  Shunamite  when  under 
the  blow  of  the  sun-stroke  that  his  father  was 
near,  so  that  he  could  say  to  him  "  my  head, 
my  head."  But  the  earthly  father  cannot  be 
always  with  his  child  :  the  heavenly  Father  can 
be.  Men  are  slow  to  understand  this.  When 
they  say  the  words  "  Our  Father  which  art  in 
heaven  " ; — they  seem  to  feel  that  "  heaven  "  is  a 
lact  in  their  astronomy  rather  than  a  doctrine 
of  their  faith  ;  and  they  have  the  drifting  fancy, 
if  not  the  distinctly  outlined  thought,  that  their 
Father  lives  in  one  world,  and  they  in  another. 
"  Do  not  I  fill  heaven  and  earth,"  saith  the  Lord. 
"  Heaven  is  my  throne,  earth  is  my  footstool." 
He  who  is  in  His  nature  so  exalted,  that  heaven 
Isaiah  Iv.  9. 


THE  INVOCATION.  ']'] 

being  His  throne,  He  rules  the  universe,  must 
fill  the  universe.  As  God,  His  nature  is  with- 
out limitation.  When  Jesus  was  dropping  the 
garment  of  our  limited  nature,  and  was  about  to 
ascend  into  the  glory  which  He  had  for  our 
sakes  laid  aside  for  a  time,  He  said  to  Mary, 
"  Touch  Me  not,  for  I  am  not  yet  ascended ;" 
that  is,  "  touch  Me  not  while  I  am  on  earth, 
wait  till  I  am  in  heaven,  then  touch  Me." 

The  Jesus  whom  men  once  saw  was  farther 
off  than  the  Jesus  of  whom  we  say  "whom  not 
having  seen,  we  love."  Wanting  His  help  the 
sisters  of  dying  Lazarus  despatched  a  messenger: 
we  need  only  despatch  a  cry.  The  messenger 
brought  Him  in  four  days  ;  a  cry  brings  Him 
directly.  Are  you  in  some  sore  strait  .'*  Quick, 
quick,  let  your  heart  run,  your  feet  need  not. 
Cry  to  the  Father,  and  God  will  come  to  you  in 
Christ.  We  speak  of  the  rate  at  which  light 
travels,  or  electricity,  or  sound ;  but  who  shall 
say  how  short  the  time  prayer  takes  in  reaching 
the  ear  of  the  Father,  and  gaining  the  reply ! 
"  It  shall  come  to  pass,  that  before  they  call,  I 
will  answer,  and  while  they  are  yet  speaking  I 
will  hear."  * 

Ages  ago,  a  man  was  telling  his  companions 

the  story  of  how  he  had  been  nearly  shipwrecked 

within  sight  of  land.     At  one  moment  the  ship 

was  riding  over  the  crest  of  a  mighty  wave,  when 

Isaiah  Ixv.  24. 


yS  THE  INVOCATION. 

there  was  a  glimpse  of  the  pier  crowded  with 
people, — the  next  moment  it  would  be  like  a 
thing  groaning  and  hissing  in  the  trough  of  the 
sea.  Some  of  the  passengers  wildly  prayed  to  the 
virgin  mother,  some  to  St  James,  some  to  St 
Christopher  and  some  to  other  saints  in  glory. 
His  friend  said,  "  to  whom  prayed  you.''"  His 
answer  in  substance  was,  "  What  could  Dominic, 
or  Thomas,  or  Catherine  do  for  me  ?  thought  I, 
St  Peter  is  nearer  to  the  throne  than  they,  and 
if  I  pray  even  to  him,  I  shall  be  drowned  before 
he  has  time  to  plead  my  cause.  I  must  needs 
go  straight  to  Him  who  made  me,  and  the  sea, 
and  the  saints,  so  I  went  straight  to  my  Father 
myself,  saying  *  Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven, 
save  these  poor  souls  and  me  that  now  cry  to 
Thee  for  bare  life !'  Not  one  of  the  saints  can 
hear  more  quickly  than  He,  or  grant  more 
freely  what  is  asked."  * 

Perfection  of  homeliness.  Let  no  one  take 
exception  to  this  word.  The  grandest  being  in 
the  universe  is  the  homeliest,  the  Being  of  all 
beings  least  to  be  afraid  of,  and  to  whom  the 
frightened  child  who  knows  Him  runs  for  com- 
fort. We  have  no  perfect  sense  of  rest  in  God, 
until  we  have  along  with  our  adoration,  this  feel- 
ing of  homely  rest,  for  we  are  so  made,  that  He 

*  This  is  the  idea  given  in  the  dialogue  entitled 
"  Naufragium  ;"  a  long  passage  in  the  "Colloquies  of 
Erasmus." 


THE  INVOCATION.  79 

is  our  heart's  dwelling-place,  and  we  are  restless 
until  we  rest  in  Him.  Pity  the  mortal  who 
sees  nothing  in  the  universe  more  than  awful 
order,  dread  magnificence,  and  the  working  of 
cold  material  laws. 

Times  there  will  be,  in  the  history  of  a  man 
without  God  in  the  world,  when  he  will  feel  like 
a  child  who  has  wandered  into  a  factory,  is  lost 
amidst  the  machinery,  is  at  once  fascinated  and 
empowered  by  its  heavy,  invariable  motion — 
motion  without  a  soul  in  it — who  feels  that  he 
cannot  get  out  of  the  way  of  its  grind,  and 
"dare  not  let  his  shriek  go  free."  One  who  had 
held  the  creed  of  atheism,  afterwards  told  his 
friends  that  when  at  length  he  was  able  to 
believe  that  a  God  was  really  alive,  he  "  danced 
with  delight,"  although  he  had  not  then  reached 
the  experience  of  hope  in  Christ.  "  It  is  a 
blessed  thing,"  cried  he,  "  that  we  are  not  placed 
amid  the  grinding  and  wheeling  of  a  great 
Machine  of  a  universe  without  guiding  hand  or 
animating  heart.  There  is  a  God !  there  is  a  God ! 
Jehovah,  he  is  the  God!  Jehovah,  he  is  the  God  "* 
He  got  to  believe  in  God  yet  more  grandly 
and  tenderly,  and  no  disciple  was  ever  led  more 
than  he  into  the  secret  of  rest  that  comes  from 
saying  to  the  God  of  the  universe,  "  Our  Father 
which  art  in  heaven."  The  child  yearns  to  be 
at  home  with  the  Great  Spirit ;  amidst  the  vast- 
*  Dr  John  Duncan. 


8o  THE  INVOCATION. 

ness  and  glory  of  the  scenery  around  him  he 
cries  for  his  Father  ;  longs  for  his  loving  ear,  his 
familiar  voice,  and  the  shelter  to  which  he  may 
nestle  with  a  sense  of  friendliness,  security  and 
peace.  This  unspeakable  want  is  met  when  we 
find  the  Father,  whom  the  Teacher  of  prayer 
reveals. 

The  words — "  Our  Father  which  art  in 
heaven,"  suggest  to  us  the  perfection  of  our  home. 
Although  the  word  "heaven"  is  here  used  mainly 
to  remind  us  of  our  Father's  perfection,  it  is 
meant  also  to  remind  us  of  the  family  home. 
Some  Christians  seem  not  to  care  for  this 
doctrine,  and  in  giving  us  their  own  views  they 
are  almost  as  refined  as  Confucius,  who  said. 
"  Heaven  is  Principle."  Our  notion,  although 
it  includes  this  idea,  does  not  stop  at  it.  It 
includes  not  only  character  but  condition,  not 
only  principle  but  place.  We  look  upon  heaven 
as  the  perfect  home  of  perfect  human  nature, 
Human  nature  has  a  body  as  well  as  a  soul, 
and  the  body  asks  for  place.  These  expecta- 
tions chime  with  and  are  cheered  on  by  the 
words  of  our  Teacher.  "  In  my  Father's 
house  are  many  mansions  :  if  it  were  not  so,  I 
would  have  told  you,  I  go  to  prepare  a  place 
for  you  ;  and  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for 
you,  I  will  come  again,  and  receive  you  into 
myself ;  that  where  I  am,  ye  may  be  also."  * 
*  John  xiv.  2,  3. 


THE  INVOCATION.  8  I 

We  distinguish  between  presence  and  manifesta- 
tion.    We  think  of  God  as  a  Spirit  who  is  pre- 
sent in  all  places  at  all  times  ;  yet  we  think  of 
heaven  as  the  one  place  of  his  highest  personal 
manifestation  through  Jesus,  "  the  Lamb  in  the 
midst  of  the  throne."     There,  and  thus,  God  is 
at   home !       In    this,    as    in   other    things,   the 
earthly  must  furnish  us  with  the  types  of  the 
heavenly,     A  man's  house  is  the  centre  of  all 
that  he  lives  for,  and  all  that  he  does.     It  is 
the  place  which  he  will  be  sure  to  fit  up  and 
adorn   in   a   way   equal    to   his    resources   and 
worthy  of  his  station.     There  the  man  of  rank, 
the  man  of  wealth,  the  man  of  refined  taste  or 
various  information,  will  have  his   appropriate 
surroundings ;  and  there,  where  he  is  at  home, 
his  children  will  be.     What  must  that  place  be 
in  which  even  God  is  at  home  !    We  cannot  tell, 
and  it  is  astonishing  that  any  mortal  has  ever 
tried  to  tell.     It  is  written  in  an  old  story  that 
an  artist,   led  by   Indians,  once  went  to  paint 
Niagara ;  but  that  when  he  saw  it,  he  dashed 
his  disappointing  pencil  down  the  precipice,  for 
he  felt  that  he  could  as  soon  paint  the  roar,  as 
the  fall,  the  foam,  the  great  sheets  of  light,  the 
arch  of  coloured  rays,  with  all  the  other  won- 
ders that  went  to  make  up  the  surprising  catar- 
act ;  and  shall  we  who  have  only  seen  earth,  try 
to    picture    heaven !      No !    poems    of    glory, 
pictures  of  magnificence,  all  fail,  "  imagination 
F 


82 


THE  INVOCATION. 


in  its  utmost  stretch,  in  wonder  dies  away ; "  in 
our  present  state,  our  future  state  is  a  mystery, 
though  a  mystery  of  delight.  It  is  our  home, 
but  the  celestial  homeliness  is  beyond  us  now. 
The  "gates"  7//^j/ be  "ajar,"  but  they  are  not 
wide  open ;  only  a  blinding  ray  shoots  through 
from  the  light  within.  We  see  that  there  is  a 
glory,  but  not  what  the  glory  is.  Not  only 
because  we  are  so  sinful,  but  because  we  are  so 
human,  the  idea  sometimes  seems  to  us  as 
appalling  as  it  is  glorious,  alarm  almost  over- 
powers delight ;  and  we  understand  the  con- 
fession of  a  saint  who  said,  "  If  I  saw  a  door 
opened  in  heaven,"  I  should  be  afraid,  and  cry 
"  O  Lord  not  to-day  !  "  Yet  no  child  need  fear. 
The  heavenly  condition  will  be  natural,  as  soon 
as  we  are  born  into  it,  and  sure  as  we  are  now 
born  into  grace,  we  shall  one  day  be  born  into 
glory.  The  heavenly  antitypes  of  sky  and 
water,  trees  and  flowers — things  of  nature  and 
art,  will  be  to  us  there  what  these  things  are  to 
us  here.  Human  dearness  will  wax,  not  wane  ; 
God  will  make  it  all  perfectly  right,  familiar 
and  delightful,  and  each  timid  Christian  must 
now  learn  to  say,  "then  shall  I  be  satisfied 
when  I  wake  in  Thy  likeness !  " 

While  we  are  like  children  at  school,  or  out 
on  the  travels  that  belong  to  our  education,  it 
is  good  for  us  that  there  should  be  this  reference 
to  heaven  wrought  into  the  very  texture  of  the 


THE  INVOCATION.  83 

pattern  prayer,  and  connected  with  the  very 
name  of  our  Father.  The  thought  of  heaven 
thus  minghng  with  our  prayer  is  to  have  a 
power  over  all  the  life.  Heavenliness  is  to 
influence  our  earthly  pleasures,  earthly  sorrows, 
earthly  cares,  and  earthly  business.  "  So,"  says 
Chrysostom,  "withdrawing  him  that  prays 
from  earth,  and  fastening  him  to  the  place  on 
high  and  the  mansions  above." 


IV. 

THE   FIRST   PETITION. 

"  Hallowed  be  Thy  name." — Matt.  vi.  9.  Lukk  xi.  2. 
Authorized  ami  Revised  Versions. 

I.  What  do  we  mean  by  the  Name  of  the 
Father  > 

II.  How  can  we  "hallow"  it .-' 

I.  What  is  meant  by  the  phrase,  "  my  name  "  .-* 
The  learner  might  say,  you  have  been  speak- 
ing of  "  our  Father,"  zuho  is  he  ?  To  answer 
this  question  would  be  to  give  you  His  name. 
A  name  is  now  only  a  mark  to  distinguish 
one  person  from  another ;  but  originally  it  was 
not  only  indicative  but  expressive.  We  still 
keep  to  this  old  meaning  when  speaking  of 
God's  name.  His  name  is  the  expression  of 
Him,  or  the  discovery  of  Him,  written  out  or 
spoken  out,  in  this,  that,  or  the  other  language. 
We  know  that  one  language  differs  from  an- 
other language  in  glory ;  that  some  languages 
are  not  made  to  carry  so  much  meaning  as 
others ;  that  the  language  of  savages  is  mainly 
adapted  to  express  the  meanings  that  belong  to 


J 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  85 

the  life  of  the  senses,  and  that  the  language  of 
educated  persons  is  adapted  in  addition  to  ex- 
press the  life  of  the  soul.  In  illustration  of  this, 
we  may  quote  a  remark  once  made  by  John 
Henry  Newman — "  It  is  of  no  use  trying  to 
translate  the  ideas  of  Plato  into  the  words  of  the 
Hottentot."  So,  as  to  the  languages  that  God 
speaks  or  writes.  He  reveals  His  name  through 
them  all,  but  all  are  not  adapted  to  convey 
those  highest  and  latest  revelations  which  we 
are  dying  to  know. 

I.  His  name  is  the  expression  of  Himself 
through  the  language  of  Nature.  With  more  or 
less  distinctness  of  inscription  and  splendour  of 
enchantment  His  perfections  express  themselves 
there,  and  there  those  living  letters  start  forth 
by  Avhich  we  spell  out  His  name.  In  the  smallest 
as  well  as  in  the  greatest  things,  we  see  some 
revelation  of  the  Infinite.  We  all  know  what  a 
little  desert  flower  said  to  Mungo  Park,  whose 
eyes  were  perhaps  the  first  and  last  to  see  it. 
There,  blooming  alone  in  what  looked  like  a 
wilderness  of  sifted  ashes,  the  little  thing  caught 
his  eye,  and  just  as  he  was  at  the  point  of  de- 
spair, whispered  in  his  ear  the  name  of  his 
Father,  so  rousing  him  to  noble  enterprise. 
The  Name  is  revealed  everywhere  to  those  who 
have  eyes  to  see  and  ears  to  hear.  Go  out  in 
the  sunny  wind  of  spring,  look  on  the  awaken- 
ing loveliness,  listen  to  the  enchanting  commo- 


86  THE  FIRST  PETITION. 

tion  of  Nature's  harmonies,  and  you  must  learn 
something  of  the  Name.  Go  out  into  the  har- 
vest field,  and  it  shines  in  burning  glory.  Look 
up  into  the  sky  through  showers,  and  certain 
words  of  Mr  Ruskin  may  come  to  mind — "  All 
these  passings  to  and  fro  of  fruitful  shower  and 
grateful  shade,  and  all  those  visions  of  silver 
palaces  built  about  the  horizon,  and  noises  of 
moaning  winds  and  threatening  thunders,  and 
glories  of  coloured  robe  and  cloven  ray,  are  but 
to  deepen  in  your  hearts  the  acceptance  and 
distinctness  and  dearness  of  the  simple  words, 
'Our  Father,  which  art  in  heaven.'"  Look  out 
into  the  white,  wavering  snow ;  if,  yesterday, 
you  had  caught  up  one  of  the  million  million 
snowflakes  then  falling,  that  you  might  look  for 
your  Father's  name  even  in  that,  you  would  have 
found  it.  What  a  wonderful  wealth  of  beauty 
was  in  the  crystal  flowers  of  tender  whiteness, 
melting  the  moment  you  put  them  under  the 
microscope,  yet  not  before  you  had  caught  a 
vanishing  glimpse  of  what  you  wanted  to  see. 
Look  on  the  winter  landscape,  you  see  it ;  on 
the  winter  water,  you  see  it ;  for  God  expresses 
Himself  on  the  water  as  much  when  the  frost 
has  shot  its  tracery  over  it,  as  when  in  the  spring 
it  reflects  the  fringing  flowers.  Look  up  into  the 
heavens  that  declare  His  glory  in  the  night ; 
then  look  down  on  the  glory  that  shines  reflected 
in  silver  glance  and  gliding  wave,  that  makes 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  87 

magical  sights  in  misty  distance,  and  that  spreads 
itself  in  broad  imperial  sheets  of  light,  revealing 
hints  of  the  unfathomable  name. 

Yes,  but  Nature's  language,  wonderful  as 
it  is,  is  not  rich  enough  to  speak  out  all  that 
I  need  to  learn.  There  is  much  after  all  to 
be  learnt  about  Him  before  I  can  feel  safe  or 
happy.  To  say  the  least,  I  find  that  changes, 
working  death  as  well  as  life,  are  always  going 
on  in  Nature.  Mornings  are  not  always 
clear  and  cloudless,  the  lark  is  not  always 
pouring  out  its  morning  hymns,  the  dews 
are  not  always  on  the  grass  like  dazzling 
drops  of  light,  nor  is  the  river  always  a  ripp- 
ling splendour.  Blights,  infestations,  and  east 
winds  make  desolating  changes  in  what  was 
bright  with  hope  and  beautiful  with  promise. 
Do  these  changes  express  the  name  of  God  ? 
Is  He  kind  to-day,  cool  to-morrow  ?  Does  He 
take  me  up  to-day,  drop  me  to-morrow  .''  Some- 
times for  me,  sometimes  against  me .''  Nature 
has  no  answer.  I  meet  with  greater  perplexities 
still,  when  passing  through  the  deeper  experi- 
ences of  life.  If  in  my  distress  I  study  Nature 
by  the  help  of  such  books  as  the  "  Bridgewater 
Treatises,"  designed  to  shew  "  the  Power,  Wis- 
dom, and  Goodness  of  God  as  manifested  in 
the  Creation,"  still  I  am  confounded.  God  is 
kind  to  the  innumerable  living  things  in  air  or 
water,  and  has  wonderfully  fitted  them  each  for 


88  THE  FIRST  TETITION. 

happiness  in  its  own  element.  But  God  is  very- 
kind  to  the  shark  as  well  as  to  the  life  which  the 
shark  snaps  at  The  African  tourist  riding 
through  the  wilderness  pauses  to  notice  the 
gazelle  waft  with  airy  grace  down  to  the  lip  of 
the  river — stop,  shiver  lightly,  then  stoop  to 
drink.  He  may  say,  "you  thing  of  beauty,  you 
express  a  thought  of  Him  who  is  the  Infinite 
Beauty !  "  While  he  says  so,  he  is  magnetically 
conscious  of  another  presence, — turns  in  his 
saddle  to  look,  and  in  a  moment  feels  as  if  lifted 
and  lighted,  for  what  is  that  ?  He  sees  silently, 
swiftly  trailing  through  the  leaves,  straight  to 
that  "beauty,"  a  bristling  lion,  with  eyes  like 
electric  lights,  with  a  bound  and  a  spring,  and  a 
roar  that  shakes  the  air — down  with  smashing- 
blow,  the  lion  drops  on  to  the  gentle  creature 
at  the  stream.  God  made  the  lion.  He  is  very 
kind  to  him.  "  The  young  lions  roar  after  their 
prey,  and  seek  their  meat  from  God."  So  in 
human  life  the  inequalities,  the  mysteries  of 
pain,  the  sufferings  from  heredity,  the  long 
years  of  injustice  that  once  made  a  poet  cry, 
"  Right  is  for  ever  in  the  dungeon.  Wrong  is  for 
ever  on  the  throne ;"  and  the  vast  spaces  of  the 
earth  where  the  people,  as  it  seems  to  us,  for  no 
special  fault  of  their  own,  "  sit  in  darkness  and 
the  shadow  of  death  ;  "  all  these  things  seem  to 
cloud  over  the  glory  of  the  Father.  Much  may 
be  learnt  of  Him  from  the  kingdom  of  Nature 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  89 

and  the  chapters  of  Providence,  but  not  enough 
for  the  like  of  me,  a  sinner.  After  all  that  is 
told,  so  much  remains  untold,  that  I  am  some- 
times in  a  storm  of  consternation.  I  try  to  be 
righteous,  but  it  is  poor  work.  Looking  at  the 
name  of  the  Lord  only  as  revealed  here,  I  am  not 
able  to  say,  "  the  name  of  the  Lord  is  a  strong 
tower, the  righteous  runneth  into  it, and  are  safe;" 
and  I  am  not  inspired  with  confidence  to  sing, 
"  The  glories  that  compose  Thy  name,  are  all 
engaged  to  make  me  blest."  No,  when  I  feel 
fit  for  nothing,  there  is  no  comfort  for  me  in 
the  doctrine  of  the  "  survival  of  the  fittest  " — the 
doctrine  which  seems  to  be  written  on  the 
pages  of  Nature;  when  I  am  sinking  in  weakness, 
it  is  no  comfort  to  me  to  hear  from  Nature,  the 
only  gospel  Nature  preaches,  the  Gospel  of 
"  salvation  to  the  strong."  When  my  heart  is 
breaking  because  I  have  to  say,  "  Lover  and 
friend  are  put  far  from  me,  and  my  acquaintance 
hast  thou  hid  in  darkness  ; "  there  is  no  comfort 
for  me  in  the  things  that  naturalists  discover, 
however  great  or  educated  my  interest  may  be 
in  such  discoveries.  There  is  no  whisper  of 
rest  from  the  wave,  or  of  pardon  from  the  breeze, 
or  of  immortality  from  the  sunshine !  Nature  is 
to  me  a  realm  of  riddles.  Providence  shows 
me  the  universe,  "  not  in  plan,  but  in  section." 
I  am  not  able  to  form  a  judgment  of  the  temple 
from   a  stone,  nor  of  infinite  machinery  from 


90  THE  FIRST   PETITION. 

the  wheels  that  move  just  in  sight  of  me,  God 
refuses  to  let  us  see  all  that  He  is ;  to  use  a 
blunt  phrase,  but  with  reverence,  "  I  cannot 
make  Him  out!"  and  my  heart  cries,  "O  Thou 
great,  beautiful  Mystery,  tell  me,  I  pray  Thee, 
Thy  Name!" 

A  recent  sage  whose  decisions  are  still 
accepted  by  many  as  those  of  an  oracle,  having 
on  one  occasion  spoken  of  the  first  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians  as  being  part  of  a  Bible  about 
the  divine  authority  of  which  many  wise  and 
good  men  have  been  doubtful,  went  on  to  say, 
"  at  anyrate  we  are  sure  that  in  the  rocks,  and 
seas,  and  stars  we  have  the  authentic  hand- 
writing of  the  Most  High."  *  Yes,  but  we  are 
equally  sure  that  since  the  rocks,  and  seas,  and 
stars  were  made,  the  family  calamity  and  disgrace 
has  come  to  pass  that  with  terrible  brevity  we  call 
the  fall ;  for  common  sense  tells  us  that  the  Holy, 
Wise,  and  Happy  God  is  not  the  Fountain  out  of 
which  sprang  the  unholy,  unwise,  unhappy  life 
of  men  as  men  now  are.  There  must  have 
been  a  change  since  the  first.  It  is  small 
comfort  to  know  that  we  have  in  the  creation 
"  the  authentic  handwriting  of  the  Creator  ;"  for 
what  He  wrote  before  the  fall  tells  us  nothing  to 
meet  the  case  that  comes  after  it.  I  hear  that 
there  is  another  will,  and  indeed  there  must  be, 
for  the  arrangements  made  for  unfallen  creatures 
Carlyle. 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  9  I 

could  not  fit  the  fallen.  I  want  the  last  news 
from  heaven  ;  a  fresh  message  from  the  throne, 
telling  us  what  is  to  be  done  noiv,  and  how  the 
new  dilemma  must  be  met 

2.  His  name  includes  the  further  expression 
of  Himself  through  the  medium  of  inspired 
words.  "  The  last  news  from  heaven,"  "  the 
fresh  message  from  the  throne "  made  needful 
by  the  changed  condition  of  things,  we  have  in 
the  words  of  the  Bible.  Thus  we  have  an 
advance  not  only  in  the  matter  of  revelation 
but  in  the  mode  of  it.  Words  are  more  distinct 
and  exact  instruments  of  expression  than  are 
things.  Thoughts,  reasons,  definitions  can  only 
be  sharply  outlined  and  vividly  tinted  by  words ; 
therefore,  while  some  reasoners  are  asking  the 
question  with  a  smile  at  the  comedy  of  the  idea, 
"  is  it  likely,  now,  that  the  eternal  Spirit  should 
reveal  Himself  to  man  by  a  book-revelation.-*" 
I  am  thinking  that  it  is  just  what  might  have 
been  expected,  and  that  in  so  doing  He  acted 
like  Himself.  He  who  at  the  fitting  time  always 
uses  the  best  means  in  order  to  the  best  ends, 
has  done  so  in  this  instance,  and  when  the  case 
required  it,  poured  out  the  glories  of  His  name 
through  words — words  of  prophecy  or  history, 
words  of  gracious  talk,  or  stately  oration,  or 
pungent  proverb,  or  thrilling  verse,  spoken  or 
written  by  holy  men  of  old  who  were  the  con- 
secrated organs  of  divine  expression.       Some 


92  THE  FIRST  PETITION. 

powerful  disclosures  of  Himself  were  gradually 
given  in  those  various  titles  which  we  call  His 
names.  Read  some  of  them.  Jehovah,  the"  I  am," 
the  Everliving  One,  who  is,  and  who  was,  and  who 
is  to  come  ;  El  Shaddai,  the  Almighty ;  Jehovah- 
jirah,  the  Lord  providing  a  ransom ;  Jehovah- 
rophi,  the  Lord  our  Healer  ;  Jehovah-nissi,  the 
Lord  under  whose  banner  our  souls  win  victory  ; 
Jehovah  Sabaoth,  the  Lord  of  the  hosts  of 
heaven  whom  idolators  worship,  the  Lord  of 
the  hosts  of  Israel, — the  title  one  day  to  be 
merged  in  the  famous  title  of  Christ,  "  Head 
of  the  Church  ;  Jehovah-Zidkenu,  the  Lord 
our  righteousness  ;  Jehovah-Shalom,  the  Lord 
Peace;  Jehovah-Shamma,  "the  Lord  is  there," 
making  the  glory  of  the  mystical  Jerusalem. 
These  and  other  appellatives,  usually  called 
names  of  God,  were  in  fact  different  revelations, 
helping  to  disclose  the  one  great  Name.  In 
the  earlier  dispensations,  to  those  who  trusted 
Him,  God  was  all  that  these  words  stand  for. 
The  time  had  not  come  for  them  to  know  why, 
for  the  saving  grace  which  these  and  other 
words  revealed,  existed  on  account  of  a  certain 
basic  principle,  or  central  arrangement,  as  yet 
out  of  sight,  and  which  was  to  be  explained  in 
"the  fulness  of  time."  While  we  have  only  the 
Old  Testament  in  our  hands,  still  we  wait, 
there  is  more  to  come  than  this  ;  beautiful  and 
inspiriting  as  they  were,  most  of  the  revelations 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  93 

by  words  were  founded  on,  and  were  prophetic 
of  a  greater  revelation  still  to  be  made. 

3.  His  name  is  perfectly  expressed  to  me  in 
the  language  of  the  Incarnation.  "To  whom 
will  ye  liken  God  ? "  not  to  a  man,  surely ! 
Yes,  to  a  man.  But  "  His  thoughts  are  not 
as  our  thoughts,  neither  are  His  ways  as  our 
ways."  "  No,  the  sea  is  not  as  the  standing 
pool  by  the  road  side.  Yet,  when  the  breeze 
crisps  the  pool,  you  may  see  the  image  of  the 
breakers  and  the  likeness  of  the  foam.  Nay, 
in  some  sort,  the  same  foam.  If  the  sea  is 
for  ever  invisible  to  you,  something  you  may 
learn  of  it  from  the  pool.  Nothing,  assuredly, 
any  otherwise."*  The  great  enquirers  of  anti- 
quity had  reached  the  truth  that  a  perfect 
human  person  is  the  most  perfect  conceivable 
form  of  a  personal  revelation — that  we  can 
have  no  clearer  notion  of  a  perfect  person  than 
through  a  perfect  man.  They  looked  round 
for  one,  and  when  he  was  not  to  be  found, 
genius  tried  to  give  the  ideal  of  him  in 
statuary.  If  a  Greek  had  said  to  his  priest, 
show  me  God  the  Father,  he  would  have 
taken  him  to  a  temple,  would  have  lifted  a 
veil,  and  pointing  to  a  certain  colossal  image 
wrought  by  Phidias,  would  have  said,  "  there, 
tJiere  he  is  ! "  Never  before  on  this  earth  had 
been  sculptured  a  form  into  which  had  been 
*  Ruskin. 


94  THE  FIRST  PETITION. 

struck  such  towering  majesty^  or  a  face  into 
which  had  been  flung  such  soul.  Mailed  in  gold 
of  the  morning,  girdled  with  gems  of  rarest 
water,  when  the  sun  shone  on  it,  it  shone  back 
a  second  sun  ;  and  it  was  verily  thought  that 
the  Deity  had  come  dow^n  to  inhabit  that 
miracle  of  man's  device.  Yet,  the  poor  trem- 
bler, looking  at  that  sculptured  man,  would 
have  said  in  his  heart,  "  No,  no,  that  will  never 
do,  that  is  not  '  the  brightness  of  the  Father's 
glory,  the  express  image  of  His  person  ; '  that 
is  not  the  exponent  of  God  ;  if  it  be  so — hard  as 
His  jewelled  coronet,  cold  as  His  marble  throne, 
high  above  all  passion  or  compassion,  there  is 
no  sympathy  to  be  looked  for  from  a  God  like 
that.  A  flash  from  that  eye  I  can  understand, 
but  not  a  tear  in  it ;  his  very  whisper  would 
deafen  me,  if  he  were  to  speak  I  should  die." 

Christians  as  w^e  are,  we  bow  to  an  image, 
and  God  himself  has  given  it.  The  use  of  an 
image  in  worship  is  a  sin  only  when  it  breaks 
the  law,  "  thou  shall  not  make  to  thyself  a 
graven  image  to  bow  down  to  it  and  to 
worship  it."  It  is  the  obedience  of  faith  when 
the  soul  has  for  its  resting-place  of  thought  and 
help  to  prayer  that  living  image  which  is 
furnished  in  the  divine  plan  of  redemption. 
"  God  is  only  knowable  through  the  medium  of 
humanity,"  and  the  humanity  set  apart  for 
this,  is  that  of  the  perfect  man,  Jesus  Christ, 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  95 

"  the  man  who  shall  be  as  a  hiding-place  from 
thewind  and  a  covertfrom  the  tempest,  as  a  voice 
of  water  in  a  dry  place,  and  the  shadow  of  a  great 
rock  in  a  weary  land  ;"  the  man  "who  is  the 
image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  firstborn  of 
every  creature  :  for  by  Him  were  all  things 
created,  that  are  in  heaven,  and  that  are  in 
earth,  visible  and  invisible,  whether  they  be 
thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or 
powers  ;  all  things  were  created  by  Him,  and 
for  Him  ;  and  He  is  before  all  things,  and  by 
Him  all  things  consist."  *  "  Lord,  show  us  the 
Father,"  said  Philip.  "Jesus  saith  unto  him. 
Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet 
hast  thou  not  known  Me,  Philip  >  he  that  hath 
seen  Me  hath  seen  the  Father,  and  how  sayest 
thou  then.  Shew  us  the  Father  ^  "  Would  you 
know  the  love  of  the  Father .''  look  at  Jesus  ; 
to  know  his  holiness  ?  look  at  Jesus,  to  know 
how  He  feels  toward  mankind.  Do  you  wonder 
how  men  dare  to  love  a  Perfection  so  grand 
and  high  ?  look  at  Jesus.  Do  you  find  in  an 
ancient  declaration  of  His  name  that  He  "will 
by  no  means  clear  the  guilty,"  and  do  you 
wonder,  therefore,  how  He  can  save  sinners  ? 
look  at  Jesus  on  the  cross.  Jesus  is  our  theology. 
Jesus  is  the  Word — all  words  in  one,  and  through 
Him,  God  is  no  longer  the  Great  Anonymous. 
He  explains  Creation ;  He  explains  the  Old 
Col.  i.  15,  16,  17. 


96  THE  FIRST  PETITION. 

Testament.  When  in  the  last  stage  of  His 
journey  to  the  cross,  the  dark  shadow  of  it 
fell  upon  His  spirit,  He  said,  "  Now  is  my  soul 
troubled,  and  what  shall  I  say  ?  Father,  save 
Me  from  this  hour :  but  for  this  cause  came 
I  unto  this  hour.  Father,  glorify  Thy  name!  "  * 
and  at  the  close  of  His  high  priestly  prayer, 
spoken  just  before  he  stepped  down  into 
Gethsemane,  He  said  to  the  Father,  with  refer- 
ence to  His  disciples,  "  I  have  declared  unto 
them  Thy  name,  and  will  declare  it."  Jesus 
is  the  revelation  of  God,  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  the  revelation  of  Jesus. 

n.  What  do  we  mean  by  praying  that  the 
name  of  our  Father  may  be  hallowed .-'  In  the 
language  of  the  Old  Testament,  to  hallow  a 
thing  was  to  set  it  apart  ceremonially,  as  a  thing 
specially  august  and  sacred.  The  temple  en- 
closure was  hallowed  ground,  because  it  was  set 
apart  from  all  other  ground,  as  the  one  spot 
sacred  to  the  ministrations  of  the  priesthood. 
The  vessels  of  the  temple  were  hallowed  because 
they  were  so  set  apart  for  sacred  purposes,  that 
their  use  for  common  purposes  would  have 
been  profanation.  The  word  used  in  the  Lord's 
prayer   is    meant    to   convey  the    same   idea.f 

*  John  xii.  27,  28. 

t  Perhaps  the  word  'AytaaO-qTu  is  from  a  negative,  and 
and  yv,  the  earth.     It  answers  to  the  Hebrew  K^^'^pn  and 

\ir\p-    This  meant  first,  to  make  holy  an  unholy  thing  ; 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  97 

"What  is  this?"  asks  Augustine,  "can  God 
be  holier  than  He  is?"  Not  so,  but  our  con- 
ception of  Him  may  be  holier  than  it  is.  We 
pray  that  He  who  is  separated  only  by  His 
perfections  from  all  other  beings,  may  be  so 
regarded  ;  and  that  more  and  more,  in  our  own 
souls  as  well  as  in  the  souls  of  all  men, — in  our 
thoughts,  motives,  desires,  and  actions,  also  in 
theirs,  He  may  be  thus  venerated  and  glorified. 
2.  "Hallowed  be  Thy  name,"  by  the  indzvdling 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  us.  We  shall  not  even  sec 
the  name  so  as  to  hallow  it,  until  the  divine 
enlightener  creates  the  seeing  spirit.  When 
Peter,  in  the  flash  of  an  amazing  moment,  read 
God's  name  in  Jesus,  it  was  said  to  him,  "Blessed 
art  thou  Simon  Bar-jona,  for  flesh  and  blood 
hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  My  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."*  As  it  was  in  him,  so  it  is 
in  us.  We  must  say  of  the  things  of  Christ, 
"  Eye  hath  not  seen  "  them,  "  but  God  hath 
revealed  them  to  us  by  His  Spirit."  "The 
heart,"  says  Pascal,  "  has  reasons  which  the 
reason  does  not  understand,"  and  by  the  Spirit 
in  the  heart  making  the  heart  see  things  which 

next,  it  came  to  mean  to  treat  a  holy  thing  as  holy,  that  is 
to  honour  it  as  such.  Ex.  xx.  8  ;  Lev.  xxi.  8  ;  Num.  xx. 
12;  Deut.  xxxii.  51.  In  these  passages,  to  sanctify  or 
hallow,  means  to  set  apart  in  a  venerating  way  from 
earth,  and  all  mere  earthly  purposes. 
*  Matt.  xvi.  17. 

G 


98  THE  FIRST  PETITION. 

confound  the  intellect,  He  inclines  us  to  under- 
stand Christ,  and  to  trust  Christ — brings  us  into 
intimacy  with  Him,  and  this  intimacy  works  a 
likeness, — "Beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory 
of  the  Lord,  we  are  changed  into  the  same 
image  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord;"  so,  the  beginning  of  all  that 
hallows  the  name  of  the  Father  in  us,  is  the  life 
of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

2.  "  Hallowed  be  Thy  name  "  by  our  trust. 
This  is  our  joint  prayer,  yet  let  each  one  in 
offering  it,  distinctly  pray  for  himself  as  well 
as  for  others.  Looking  to  Jesus,  who  is  the 
Father's  name  alive — alive  in  one  personal,  per- 
fect, final  revelation,  I  would  say,  there,  my 
soul's  trust  is  all  there — there  alone,  as  on  that 
which  is  gloriously  separated  from  and  exalted 
above  "  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only  in 
this  world,  but  in  the  world  that  is  to  come;" 
there  only,  there  for  everything,  there  for  ever. 
As  "  God  manifest,"  as  a  Being  all  by  Himself, 
I  separate  this  Saviour  in  my  own  mind  from 
all  other  Saviours.  "  He  hangeth  the  earth 
upon  nothing  ;"  let  my  faith  like  the  earth 
be  hung  upon  nothing  but  God ;  by  human 
will  as  well  as  by  divine  ordination,  by  me,  by 
others,  by  more  and  more,  may  He  be  set  apart 
as  the  one  foundation  of  hope,  the  one  life,  the 
one  strength,  the  one  righteousness,  the  one 
manifested  Perfection  ! 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  99 

3.  "Hallowed  be  Thy  name"  in  the  spirit  of  our 
prayers.  A  graphic  writer  has  pictured  to  us 
the  story  of  an  African  journeying  to  offer  his 
petition  when  in  trouble,  to  a  certain  wizard  or 
Obe  man — his  only  ideal  of  Him  who  hears 
prayer.  He  and  his  companions  on  their  way 
to  the  secret  place  where  this  "  hearer  of  prayer  " 
had  his  sanctum,  travelled  for  miles  through 
the  wilderness.  Spurred  on  by  fear  they 
plunged  into  the  shadowy  forest ;  in  the  dark- 
ness, now  and  then  they  were  caught  in  swing- 
ing loops  of  the  bush  ropes,  or  were  tripped  up 
by  treacherous  vines,  or  tangled  among  the 
trunks  of  tree-ferns,  or  tumbled  over  vast  nests 
of  ants.  On,  on,  they  pushed  through  the  dull, 
green  light.  They  reached  at  length  a  spot 
where  the  ground  was  so  damp,  the  foliage  so 
dense,  and  the  atmosphere  so  faint  that  it 
seemed  like  poison.  They  had  to  brave  sting- 
ing leaf,  teasing  insect,  and  deadly  snake — when 
it  seemed  impossible  to  get  through  the  tight 
and  netted  undergrowth  another  inch,  then, 
dropping  down  on  hands  and  knees,  they  glided 
silently  after  their  guide  through  a  scarcely 
discernible  opening  in  the  bush,  when  the  man 
who  had  the  consultation  to  make,  now  went 
on  alone.  As  he  crawled,  he  suddenly  touched 
with  naked  knee,  a  large,  cold,  smooth  object, 
which  snatched  itself  away,  and  shot  back  a  hiss 
that  thrilled  him  through.     As  he  still  pushed 


lOO  THE  FIRST  PETITION. 

on,  he  could  hear  the  noise  and  sway  of  snakes, 
disturbed  by  his  entrance ;  he  crept,  and  crept 
on,  till  at  last  he  found  himself  entered  upon 
a  wide,  cleared  space  of  considerable  size,  shut 
in  with  splendid  vegetation  around  and  above. 
Against  the  majestic  pillar  of  a  central  tree, 
midst  mixed  bamboos  and  tree  ferns,  surrounded 
by  the  dense  wood,  like  the  very  house  of  death, 
was  the  home  of  the  strange  Negro.  At  the 
sight  of  him,  he  began  to  creep  back  again,  but 
he  no  sooner  did  so,  than  on  all  sides  there  arose 
a  commotion  of  swarming  snakes,  that  slipped 
and  rustled  out  of  his  way.*  This  may  serve  as 
a  parable.  It  shows  how  some  persons  think 
of  prayer.  They  have  in  their  hearts  some 
echo  of  the  ancient  cry,  "  O  that  I  knew  where 
I  might  find  Him  !  that  I  might  come  even  to 
His  seat !  I  would  order  my  cause  before  Him, 
I  would  fill  my  mouth  with  arguments,"  but  they 
think  of  the  way  to  God  as  a  long  and  difficult 
journey.  They  suffer  from  a  sense  of  hard 
work,  of  having  to  travel  over  desperate  ground, 
of  going  through  an  effort  of  conscience,  making 
fatigue.  The  thought  of  God  is  always  a 
weight  upon  their  spirits,  and  there  are  times 
when  it  is  a  cold  horror.  They  must  pray,  but, 
more  or  less,  they  are  sorry  for  it,  and  some- 
times it  costs  them  agonies.  Making  it  a 
terrifying  process,  they  turn  it  into  a  violation 
*  From  "  Liitchmee  and  Uilloo  ;"  much  abridged. 


THE  FIRST  TETITION.  lOI 

of  reverence  and  a  mode  of  profanity.  This  is 
not  the  prayer  of  one  who  knows  Christ,  and 
who  has  been  born  again.  Yet  it  is  to  be  feared 
that  in  some  instances,  at  some  times,  from  a 
stern  theology,  or  through  a  depressing  spiritual 
atmosphere,  even  the  sons  of  God  pray  too 
much  like  slaves,  and  that  even  by  them,  the 
Father,  though  not  ?/;^known,  is  piisknown. 
Nothing  in  one  who  ought  to  know  better,  so 
grieves  the  Spirit ;  gives  such  a  wound  to  the 
love  of  God,  does  such  a  wrong  to  His  name. 
His  name  is  Love ;  let  us  hallow  it.  There  is 
no  love  like  His  love.  To  any  one  who  has 
the  faintest  faith*  in  Christ,  yet  who  at  this 
moment  holds  back  from  the  Father,  feeling 
half  afraid  to  take  the  liberty  of  prayer,  it  may 
be  said,  "Dost  thou  think  Him  'altogether 
such  an  one  as  thyself.'''  touchy,  jealous,  apt 
to  take  offence,  slow  to  make  allowance,  hard 
to  be  entreated,  difficult  to  please .''  Are  you 
thinking  of  God  only  as  an  infinite  man — man 
as  man  is  now  ?  The  only  man  who  reveals 
what  He  is  like,  'is  the  man  Christ  Jesus,'  and 
are  you  afraid  of  Him  ? "  If  your  hearts  have 
learnt  the  words  Christ  has  here  taught  us, 
"ye  have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage 
again  to  fear,  but  ye  have  received  the  spirit  of 
adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  Abba,  Father!" 
Fear,  indeed,  you  have,  but  the  fear  that  lifts  the 
soul,  not  the  fear  that  lowers  it.     It  sends  no 


I02  THE  FIRST  PETITION. 

shudder  over  the  Hfe.  Instead  of  a  terror,  you 
feel  a  glorious  awe.  By  the  life  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  within  you,  live  up  to  your  new  standard 
of  privilege.  Separate  thoughts  of  your  Father 
from  thoughts  of  all  imperfect  beings,  fling  off 
all  doubt  of  welcome,  all  freezing  dread,  and 
with  happy  freedom,  letting  yourselves  go,  run 
into  the  all-embracing  love. 
w  4.  "  Hallowed  be  Thy  name  "  in  our  lives. 
It  is  indisputable  that  it  is  Christ  in  us  that 
makes  our  Christianity.  Christians  with  no 
Christ  in  them,  are  only  cheap  imitations  and 
hollow  shells  that  infinite  Love  itself  must  fling 
away  with  infinite  impatience.  Such  lives, 
more  than  anything  else  imaginable,  cause  the 
name  of  God  to  be  blasphemed.  The  life  of 
Christ  in  the  lives  of  His  people,  is  that  by 
which  it  may  be  most  hallowed.  "  Beloved,  let 
us  get  holy  lives,  and  leave  the  rest  to  God."* 
Life  takes  form.  The  apostle  said  to  the 
Galatians,  "  My  little  children,  of  whom  I  am 
again  in  travail,  until  Christ  ht  formed  in  you."-|- 
Sure  as  that  life  is  in  us,  the  form,  beginning 
in  the  heart,  will  come  out  into  human  sight. 
What  is  the  form  of  Christ's  life  t  "He  is  holy, 
harmless,  undefiled,  and  separate  from  sinners." 
The  same  life  in  us,  must,  in  the  degree  of  its 
existence,  take  the  same  form.     We  are  to  be 

*  Fletcher  of  Madely. 

*  Gal.  iv.  19.     Revised  Versiofi. 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  IO3 

separate  from  sinners,  not  like  the  ancient  as- 
cetics, who  to  avoid  spiritual  infection  fled  from 
their  presence,  and  lived  in  solitary  places  ;  but 
separate  while  in  the  midst  of  them ;  separate 
by  distinctness  of  nature ;  separate,  as  the  salt 
which  though  it  may  be  in  contact  with  the 
earth,  is  separate  from  it  ;  and  as  the  light 
is  separate  from  that  which  it  illuminates. 
It  is  said  of  the  glorified  ones,  who  are  before 
God  in  heaven,  "  His  servants  shall  serve  Him, 
and  they  shall  see  His  face,  and  His  name 
shall  be  written  on  their  foreheads."  The  spirit 
of  this  petition  is,  let  it  be  so  on  earth,  so  that 
wherever  His  servants  are,  His  name  may  be 
seen.  May  His  name  be  in  us,  and  on  us, 
"  known  and  read  of  all  men  !  "  Where  we 
live,  there,  by  the  indwelling,  formative  life  of 
Christ,  the  Manifestor  of  the  Father's  name, 
may  that  name  be  hallowed  through  our  lives ! 
Most  hallowed  where  the  most  of  our  lives  have 
to  be  spent,  that  is,  not  in  splendid  places,  but 
in  common  places.  You  have,  perhaps,  to 
spend  most  of  your  own  life  amidst  things  for 
manufactory,  things  for  cultivation,  or  things  for 
sale  ;  you  are  inclined  to  tell  me  that  there  are 
many  small  transactions  in  a  sphere  like  yours, 
which  I  'might  call  sins,  but  which  are  quite 
necessities  as  the  world  now  is.  Society  has 
such  claims,  business  is  so  sharp,  life  is  so  rapid, 
competition   is  so  frantically  desperate,  that  if 


I04  THE  FIRST  PETITION. 

you  were,  in  any  sense  of  the  phrase,  to  hallow 
God's  name  in  your  secular  occupations,  you 
would  not  be  able  to  go  on  for  a  twelvemonth. 
Then  you  are  not  able  to  feel  ready  for  the  day 
when  "  there  shall  be  upon  the  bells  of  horses, 
'holiness  unto  the  Lord;'"  you  are  not  able 
to  feel  that  you  are  always  priests, — your  work- 
ing dress  priestly  raiment;  your  working  place, 
holy  ground, — you  are  not  able  to  offer  the 
Lord's  prayer. 

5.  "  Hallowed  be  Thy  name  "  in  our  language. 
Of  course,  where  any  temptation  exists  to  the 
profane  use  of  any  word  that,  like  a  symbol, 
stands  for  God,  this  is  forbidden  first  of  all. 
It  may  seem  to  us  quite  inconceivable  that  any 
Christian  should  ever  thus  be  tempted,  or  any 
persons  who  frequent  Christian  assemblies  ; 
yet,  when  a  man  who  has  been  accustomed  in 
a  passion  to  rap  out  "  bad  language "  becomes 
a  Christian  after  his  habits  of  life  are  settled, 
there  may  be  a  burning  moment,  when  some 
evil  word  long  unheard  on  his  lips,  but  all  the 
while  sleeping  like  a  memory,  a  wicked  misery, 
or  a  motionless  torpedo  on  the  floor  of  the 
soul's  deep  sea,  may  suddenly  explode,  and 
rage  on  the  surface,  as  did  the  cursing  words 
of  Peter  when  he  denied  his  Lord.  In  olden 
times,  when  the  disciples  of  Christ  were  new 
converts  from  heathenism,  and  much  mire 
from  the  "  horrible  pit,''  out  of  which  they  had 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  IO5 

been  lifted  still  clung  to  them  ;  or  in  the  dark 
ages  when  the  Bible  was  a  sealed  book  to  the 
multitude,  preachers  dwelt  almost  restrictively 
on  this  use  of  the  clause,  "  hallowed  be  thy 
name."  Chrysostom,  for  instance,  knew  that 
large  numbers  in  his  congregation  were  profane 
swearers,  and  twenty  of  his  homilies  against 
profane  swearing  still  survive. 

Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor,  discoursing  on  this 
subject,  with  splendid  eloquence  and  rich 
mosaic  of  illustration,  speaks  thus :  "  The  name 
of  God  is  so  sacred,  so  mighty,  that  it  rends 
mountains,  it  opens  the  bowels  of  the  deepest 
rocks,  it  casts  out  devils,  and  makes  hell  to 
tremble,  and  fills  all  the  regions  of  heaven  with 
joy ;  the  name  of  God  is  our  strength  and 
confidence,  the  object  of  our  worshippings,  and 
the  security  of  all  our  hopes  ;  and  when  God 
had  given  Himself  a  name,  and  immured  it  with 
dread  and  reverence,  like  the  garden  of  Eden 
with  the  swords  of  cherubim,  and  none  durst 
speak  it  but  he  whose  lips  were  hallowed,  and 
that  at  holy  and  solemn  times,  in  a  most  holy 
and  solemn  place  ;  I  mean  the  high-priest  of 
the  Jews  at  the  solemnities  when  he  entered 
the  sanctuary — then  He  taught  all  the  world 
the  majesty  and  veneration  of  His  name ;  and 
therefore  it  was  that  God  made  restraints  our 
conceptions  and  expressions  of  Him  :  and,  as  He 
was  infinitely  curious,  that,  from  all  the  appear- 


I06  THE  FIRST  PETITION. 

ances  He  made  to  them,  they  should  not  depict 
or  engrave  any  image  of  Him  ;  so  He  took  care 
that  even  the  tongue  should  be  restrained,  and 
not  be  too  free  in  forming  images  and  repre- 
sentments  of  His  name ;  and  therefore,  as  God 
drew  their  eyes  from  vanity,  by  putting  His 
name  amongst  them,  He  took  it  off  from  the 
tongue  and  placed  it  before  the  eye  ;  for 
Jehovah  was  so  written  on  the  priest's  mitre, 
that  all  might  see  and  read,  but  none  speak  it 
but  the  priest.  But  besides  all  this,  there  is 
one  great  thing  concerning  the  name  of  God, 
beyond  all  that  can  be  spoken  or  imagined 
else;  and  that  is,  that  when  God  the  Father 
was  pleased  to  pour  forth  all  His  glories,  and 
imprint  them  on  His  holy  Son  in  His  exaltation, 
it  was  by  giving  Him  His  holy  name,  the 
Tetragrammaton,  or  Jehovah  made  articulate  ; 
to  signify  '  God  manifested  in  the  flesh,'  and  so 
He  wore  the  character  of  God,  and  became  the 
bright  image  of  His  person, 

"  Now  all  these  great  things  concerning  the 
name  of  God  are  infinite  reproofs  of  common 
and  vain  swearing  by  it ;  God's  name  is  left 
us  here  to  pray  by,  to  hope  in,  to  be  the 
instrument  and  conveyance  of  our  worship- 
pings, to  be  the  witness  of  truth,  and  the 
judge  of  secrets ;  the  end  of  strife  and  the 
avenger  of  perjury,  the  discerner  of  right  and 
the  severe   exactor  of  all  wrongs ;   and    shall 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  IO7 

all  this  be  unhallowed  by  impudent  talking  of 
God  without  sense,  or  fear,  or  notices,  or 
reverence,  or  observation  ?  "  * 

It  is  not  the  common  swearer  only,  who  does 
that  which  we  thus  pray  against.  It  is  the  sin  of 
prayer-utterers  who  speak  the  words  of  devotion 
while  they  are  thinking  of  something  else;  so 
making  the  service  a  work  done  by  machinery  ; 
it  is  the  sin  of  any  speaker  or  writer  who  uses 
the  name  of  God  on  the  vehicle  of  his  own 
glorification  ;  it  is  emphatically  the  sin  of  those 
who,  perhaps,  habitually  sit  on  thrones  of  judg- 
ment, each  as  an  incarnate  perfection,  and  see 
the  children  of  this  world,  or  the  members  of  the 
church  pass  before  them  with  the  one  idea  of 
determining  what  sentence  they  shall  pass,  but 
who  out  of  their  shallow  religiosity,  and  in  their 
slipshod,  random  talk,  passing  for  religious 
conversation — sometimes  make  such  free  use  of 
the  sacred  name,  that  we  hear  them  with  a 
spiritual  shiver,  and  feel  a  shock  almost  as  great 
as  when  a  poor  ignoramus  carelessly  let  slips  a 
round  oath ;  it  is  the  sin  of  all  flippancy  and 
levity  in  connection  with  anything  chosen  by 
God  as  a  special  medium  for  the  expression  of 
Himself.  The  Bible,  the  day  of  holy  rest,  the 
institutions  of  His  grace,  are  things  marked  by 
the  King's  broad  arrow  as  sacredly  His  own, 
therefore,  as  such,  set  apart  from  common  uses. 
*  Sermon  on  the  Good  and  Evil  Tongue. 


I08  THE  FIRST  PETITION. 

We  must  stifle  in  its  first  conception,  the  sense 
of  the  comic  in  connection  with  the  thought  of 
the  divine.  "Jest  not,"  says  Thomas  Fuller, 
"with  the  two-edged  sword  of  God's  word.  Dan- 
gerous is  it  to  wit- wanton  it  with  the  majestic 
of  God  ;  wherefore,  if,  without  intention,  and 
against  thy  will,  by  chance  medley  thou  hittest 
scripture  in  thy  ordinary  discourse,  yet  fly  to 
the  city  of  Refuge,  and  pray  God  to  forgive 
thee."  We  think  of  all  these  possibilities  of  sin,  in 
ourselves  or  in  others,  when  we  cry,  "  Hallowed 
be  Thy  name." 

6.  "  Hallowed  be  Thy  name  in  the  church  by 
the  ascription  to  Thee  alone,  of  the  honours 
due  to  Thee."  One  day  during  the  course  of 
recent  disturbances  in  Ireland,  an  Irish  Bishop, 
giving  the  people  in  his  discourse  a  direction  on 
the  subject  of  secret  societies,  said,  "We  have 
received  this  direction  from  our  Holy  Father," 
Our  Holy  FatJier !  what  is  his  name  ?  We  are 
told  that  his  name  is  "  Leo  the  Thirteenth." 
There  must  be  a  mistake  here.  This  is  not  the 
person  meant  by  Jesus  Christ,  when  He  said, 
"  Holy  Father,  keep  through  Thine  own  name 
those  whom  Thou  hast  given  Me,  that  they  may 
be  one,  as  we  are."  *  The  devout  and  loving 
common  sense  of  Christianity  recoils  from  the 
application  to  a  man  of  the  title  Christ  gives  to 
"  the  High  and  Lofty  One."  It  is  not  as  if  it 
*  John  xvii.  1 1. 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  IO9 

were  simply  used  as  the  language  of  venerating 
courtesy  ;  it  is  used  as  the  language  of  religion. 
It  is  not  so  much  the  title  itself  that  we  now 
think  of,  as  the  doctrine  it  stands  for,  and  which 
is  at  the  root  of  the  system  represented  by  him 
who  means  it.  God's  title  is  taken  by  the 
sovereign  Pontiff,  on  the  theory  that  he  is 
God's  Word  and  representative.  It  only  means 
this.  Some  years  ago,  in  answer  to  an  address 
read  by  an  English  deputation,  the  Pope 
said,  "  I  alone,  despite  my  unworthiness, 
am  the  true  successor  of  the  Apostles,  the 
Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ  on  earth  ;  I  alone  have 
the  commission  to  steer  and  guide  the  bark 
of  Saint  Peter ;  I  alone  am  the  Way,  the 
Truth,  and  the  Life  ;  all  who  are  with  me  are 
with  the  Church  ;  all  who  are  not  with  me  are 
without  the  Church  ;  without  the  Way,  without 
the  Truth,  and  without  the  Life.  Let  all  men 
understand  this,  that  they  may  not  be  deceived 
and  led  astray  by  fancy  Catholics,  who  teach 
and  desire  something  very  different  from  that 
which  the  Head  of  the  Church  teaches  and 
desires."  If  these  serene  assumptions  are  to  be 
accepted  as  true,  of  course  he  who  utters  them 
has  a  right  to  be  called  Holy  Father.  If  they 
are  not  true,  in  so  calling  him,  we  hallow  the 
wrong  name.  We  know  that  the  words,  "  I  am 
the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life,"  are  the  clear 
and  final  words  of  Jesus   Christ   Himself,  that 


IIO  THE  FIRST  PETITION. 

His  was  the  glory  seen  by  the  prophet  in  his 
rapture,  and  that  to  him  rose  the  cry  of  the 
seraphim,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy."  Only  the  Father 
whom  we  see  when  we  see  Him,  is  the  Holy 
Father,  and  if  we  are  consistent  in  the  utterance 
of  this  ascription,  we  shall  only  send  it  up  to 
God  as  in  Christ,  "  Head  over  all  things  to  His 
Church." 

7.  "Hallowed  be  Thy  name"  in  the  overthroiv 
of  idolatry.  An  idol  is  that  which  men  on  their 
own  responsibility  set  apart  as  the  name  or  ex- 
pression of  God,  and  therefore  as  the  proper 
object  of  their  worship.  Millions  in  the  days 
of  antiquity  have  so  regarded  their  imperial 
masters.  Where  religion  is  another  name  for 
fear,  and  God  another  name  for  Force,  this  was 
not  so  much  to  be  wondered  at,  for  nothing  so 
represented  to  the  multitude  the  idea  of  awful 
power  as  an  Eastern  king  of  kings,  or  a  Roman 
emperor.  Yet  He  was  not  only  worshipped  by 
the  uneducated.  Valerius  Maximus,  addressing 
Tiberius  in  the  preface  of  his  book,  said  "  Other 
divinities  are  only  in  opinion  ;  thy  Divinity  we 
see  and  touch  in  thee."  Antoninus  called  him- 
self Father  Bacchus  ;  Caligula  said  to  Jupiter, 
"  kill  me,  or  I  will  kill  thee  ;  "  Domitian  signed 
his  decrees,  "  your  Lord  and  your  God."  Helio- 
gabalus  proclaimed  himself  "the  Lord  Sun." 
In  the  day  when  Christ  was  giving  His  disciples 
their  model  of  prayer,  men   were  finding  their 


THE  FIRST  PETITION.  I  I  I 

ideas  of  God's  names  in  emperors,  in  the  storied 
or  sculptural  expressions  of  classic  mythology, 
and  in  the  grotesque  shapes  before  which  crowds 
were  kneeling  in  India.  In  our  own  day,  there 
are  lands  full  of  idols  that  look  like  foul,  fan- 
tastic, scaring  dreams  of  sin  and  misery  struck 
into  stone.  Countless  fellow  subjects  of  our 
own  are  still  in  such  darkness,  that  when  they 
think  of  God,  they  know  no  better  expression 
of  His  name  then  such  images  can  give.  In  the 
Bombay  Presidency  alone,  we  are  told  that 
more  then  thirty  thousand  temples  are  still 
devoted  to  objects  of  worship  like  these.  When 
we  call  these  things  to  mind,  when  we  also  re- 
member that  an  idol  is  not  only  an  object  of 
worship  fashioned  with  the  hand,  but  is  also 
anything  that  is  instead  of  God  to  us,  or  from 
which  our  life  takes  its  supreme  law ;  when  we 
try  to  count  the  idols  now  worshipped  in 
London,  and  feel  that  they  are  numberless ; 
when  we  lift  the  veil,  look  into  the  shadows 
within  our  own  spirits,  and  descry  idols  there, 
as  the  penitent  Manasseh  saw  idols  in  the 
Holiest  place,  we  wake  up  to  see  the  meaning 
and  to  feel  the  solemnity  of  the  pra}-er,  "Hal- 
lowed be  Thy  name !  " 


V. 

THE    SECOND   PETITION, 

"Thy  kingdom  come."— Matthew  vi.  lo.  Luke  xi.  2. 
Ajithorizcd  and  Revised  Versions. 

Martin  Luther,  writing  in  the  year  15 18, 
remarks,  that  when  the  children  say,  "  Hallowed 
be  Thy  Name,"  The  Father  asks,  "  How  can 
any  honour  and  name  be  sanctified  among  you, 
seeing  that  all  your  hearts  and  thoughts  are 
inclined  to  evil,  and  you  are  in  the  captivity  of 
sin,  and  none  can  sing  My  song  in  a  strange 
land?" 

Then  the  children  speak  again,  thus  : — 
"  O  Father,  it  is  true.  Help  us  out  of  our 
misery;  let  Thy  kingdom  come,  that  sin  may 
be  driven  away,  and  we  be  made  according  to 
Thy  pleasure,  that  Thou  alone  mayest  reign  in 
us,  and  we  be  Thy  dominion  ;  obeying  Thee 
with  all  the  powers  of  body  and  soul."  * 

These  antique  sentences  help  to  show  the 
vital  connection  between  the  first  and  second 

*  This  is  part  of  a  long  and  interesting  quotation  made 
by  Dr  Saphir  at  the  opening  of  Lecture  VI.  on  the 
Lord's  Prayer. 


THE  SECOND  PETITION.  I  13 

petitions.  It  is  not  a  connection  without  con- 
sequence, like  that  of  pearls  in  a  circlet,  or  links 
in  a  chain ;  but  thought  grows  out  of  thought, 
and  prayer  out  of  prayer,  like  bough  out  of 
bough  in  a  stately,  flowering  tree. 

I.  The  kingdom.  The  phrase,  "Thy  kingdom," 
means  Thy  "  reign.''  In  our  language  we  have 
one  word  for  a  kingdom,  another  for  the  reign 
in  it  ;  for  instance,  we  make  a  distinction 
between  the  kingdom  of  Queen  Victoria,  and 
her  reign  in  that  kingdom.  It  was  lately  said 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  that  in  certain  parts 
of  Ireland,  the  Queen  does  not  reign,  but  the 
Land  League.  Then,  although  the  kingdom  is 
hers,  the  Queen's  reign  in  it  is  to  come.  In  the 
original  language  of  the  New  Testament,  one 
word  is  used  for  both  meanings — in  one  place 
it  stands  for  the  territory  under  kingly  rule  ; 
in  another  place,  for  the  kingly  rule  itself. 
Here  it  stands  for  the  kingly  rule.  Of  course, 
the  earth  is  already  the  kingdom  of  God  in 
the  first  sense  of  the  word.  It  cannot  come 
to  be  so,  for  so  it  already  is.  But  other  lords 
have  dominion  in  it.  "  An  impious  war  has 
been  declared  by  the  subjects  on  earth  against 
the  Sovereign  in  heaven  :  there  has  been  a 
revolt  of  the  heart,  of  the  intellect,  of  the  senses, 
and  of  all  the  faculties.  A  general  insurrection 
of  the  human  race  against  the  Creator  has  been 
organized  in  this  world.  The  degraded  senses 
II 


1  14  THE  SECOND  PETITION. 

have  said,  '  Let  us  break  His  bands  asunder 
and  cast  away  His  cords  from  us  ;'  the  fickle 
and  infatuated  reason  in  its  turn  has  said, 
'  Where  is  the  promise  of  His  coming  ?'  Selfish- 
ness and  pride  have  leagued  together,  and 
when  the  Father  appeared  in  His  Son,  have 
exclaimed  we  will  not  have  this  man  to  reign 
over  us."  * 

This  doctrine  is  often  contemptuously  denied. 
You  know  many  persons  who  would  say, 
"  Nonsense !  that  doctrine  of  the  fall ; — of  course, 
man  is  as  God  made  him."  Facts  contradict 
their  dogma.  The  Greek  magician  in  stone 
did  not  make  the  statue  as  you  find  it, — stained, 
shattered,  flung  down  in  the  nettles  ;  the  Gothic 
builder  did  not  make  Chepstone  Castle  as  you 
find  it,  a  ruin  ;  the  workman  did  not  make  the 
king's  banner  as  you  find  it,  torn,  trampled,  and 
ground  into  the  mire  ;  so,  God  did  not  make 
man  fallen,  lost,  and  a  rebel.  Do  you  say,  he  is 
made  with  instincts  to  ascend  .-'  then  some 
malign  hand  has  arrested  "  the  ascensional 
development,"  and  brought  him  down  to  be 
what  you  now  behold.  True,  the  heart  of 
humanity  is  part  of  God's  kingdom  ;  but  does 
He  reign  in  it  .-*  Pride  reigns,  self  reigns, 
animalism  reigns,  death  reigns,  but  the  reign  of 
the  Father  is  to  come.  In  the  remarks  now 
following,  although  we  may  occasionally  use 
*  Vinet. 


THE  SECOND  PE  FITION.  I  1  5 

the  word  "  kingdom,"  it  is  with  the  understand- 
ing that  we  use  it  in  the  sense  of  "  reign." 

II.    TJie  zvay  this  kingdom  zvill  come. 

I.  It  will  come  by  the  mediation  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Intimation  of  this,  couched  in  "  dark 
and  cloudy  words,"  was  given  on  the  very  day 
when  the  rebellion  broke  out.  Then  it  was 
said  to  the  serpent,  "  I  will  put  enmity  between 
thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed 
and  her  seed  ;  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and 
thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel."  *  This  promise  of 
Eden  was  a  bud  in  which  the  future  flower  of 
all  revelation  lay  folded.  As  time  went  on,  it 
gradually  opened,  and  the  announcement  of  a 
Saviour's  coming  reign  was  given  with  growing 
distinctness.  A  promise  was  made  to  David 
that  a  son  of  his  should  have  universal 
sovereignty.  "  He  shall  have  dominion,"  so 
declared  the  oracle,  "from  sea  to  sea,  and 
from  the  river  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  All 
kings  shall  fall  down  before  him  ;  all  nations 
shall  serve  him,  and  shall  call  him  blessed. 
In  his  days  shall  the  righteous  flourish,  and 
abundance  of  peace,  so  long  as  the  moon 
endureth."t  In  a  few  years  it  became  clear 
that  neither  Solomon  nor  Solomon's  son  ful- 
filled this  prophecy;  but  still,  while  the  glory 
of  the  Hebrew  nation  was  waning  into  gloom, 
and  its  power  was  sinking  into  nothingness, 
*  Genesis  iii.  15.  +  Psalm  ii.  7,  8. 


Il6  THE  SECOND  PETITION. 

the  prophecies  of  the  coming  King  kept  glowing 
on  with  greater  vividness  through  message 
after  message,  until  the  last  prophet  made 
Him  the  subject  of  His  last  message  :  when, 
after  the  silence  of  four  hundred  years,  the 
Spirit  spoke  again,  the  speech  was  still  about 
the  King,  and  the  burden  of  John  the  Baptist's 
ministry  was,  "  the  reign  of  heaven  is  at  hand, 
get  ready  for  it."  While  this  herald's  voice 
was  sounding,  the  King  came.  He  had  not 
been  long  here — in  fact,  had  not  yet  in  a 
formal  way  commenced  His  undertaking,  when, 
all  eyes  being  fastened  on  Him,  all  minds  exer- 
cised on  the  question  what  His  kingdom  would 
be  like,  he  issued  a  manifesto,  and  we  have  it 
in  the  Seven  Beatitudes.*  The  first  beatitude 
is,  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  their's 
is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  "  This,"  says 
Augustine,  "  is  inclusive  of  all  the  beatitudes, 
for  all  the  beatitudes  that  follow  are  the  un- 
folding of  this  first  one."  "  We  have  here,  the 
beginning  both  of  the  principles  and  the  bles- 
sings that  make  up  the  kingdom  of  God."t 
Let  but  these  principles,  with  their  consequent 
blessings,  have  ascendancy,  and  there,  in  all  its 
perfection,  is  the  kingdom.  This  kingdom,  or 
reign,  is  one.  Part  is  on  earth,  part  is  in 
heaven,  part  is  present,  part  is  to  come ;  this 
*  Matt.  V.  I-I2.       +  Auff.  de  Serm.  Dom.  in  jMonte. 


THE  SECOND  PETITION.  I  I  7 

is  the  bud,  that  is  the  flower  ;  when  we  die, 
going  through  the  gate  of  death  is  not  going 
into  the  kingdom,  but  going  into  its  perfection. 

Jesus  having  in  the  first  section  of  His  sermon 
on  the  Mount,  told  His  disciples  what  the  king- 
dom would  be  like,  before  He  brought  that 
sermon  to  a  close,  taught  them  to  say  to  the 
Father,  with  reference  to  it,  "Thy  kingdom 
come."  Guided  by  the  instructions  contained 
in  that  sermon,  the  cry  of  our  life  must  be, 
"  Father,  let  that  reign  come,  when  men  shall 
be  poor  in  spirit,  so  that  all  the  advantages  of 
the  reign  may  be  theirs  ;  when  they  shall 
mourn  so  that  they  may  be  comforted  ;  when 
they  shall  be  meek,  and  so  inherit  the  earth ; 
when  they  shall  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness,  and  so  be  filled  ;  when  they  shall 
be  pure  in  heart,  and  so  see  God ;  when  they 
shall  be  peace-makers,  and  so  be  called  the 
children  of  God.  Let  that  reign  come  in  which 
shall  come  that  royal  truth,  that  royal  kind- 
ness, that  royal  fairness,  that  royal  peace,  that 
exaltation  of  graces — which,  because  common, 
current  language  is  not  intense  enough  to 
describe,  is  set  forth  in  the  bold  hyperbole  of 
this  sermon  on  the  Mount !  Let  that  reign 
come,  which  will  be  the  beginning  of  heaven 
on  earth  !'' 

2.  It  will  come  through  the   instrunieutality 


I  I  8  THE  SECOND  PETITION. 

of  the  cross.  By  the  cross,  we  mean  what  was 
consummated  on  the  cross.  God  in  Christ 
founds  the  new  reign  of  grace  in  that  only. 
The  peace  that  is  signed  in  the  palace  of  the 
Most  High,  is  peace  through  "  the  blood  of  the 
cross."  War  ceases  only  when  this  is  operative. 
We  take  God's  word  for  this,  and  lay  aside 
man's  opinion  about  it.  On  the  one  hand,  it 
is  enough  for  us  to  know,  that  in  some  way, 
through  the  perfection  of  the  life,  and  the 
mystery  of  the  sacrifice  finished  there,  the 
rebel  may  be  forgiven,  and  yet  the  eternal 
order  not  be  broken  ;  on  the  other  hand,  to 
know  that  while  the  rebel  is  looking  at  and 
trusting  in  "  Christ  crucified,"  enmity  melts,  a 
new  life  of  love  is  inspired,  and  that,  as  far  as 
the  influence  of  the  cross  extends,  the  reign  of 
God  comes. 

Christian  men  sometimes  seem  as  if  they  only 
half  believe  in  this.  They  seem  as  if,  like  the 
Emperor  Constantine,  they  see  a  glorious  cross, 
and  read  the  celestial  inscription  under  it,  "  by 
this  conquer,"  yet,  believers  as  they  nominally 
are,  it  is  not  by  this,  that  is,  not  by  the  cross 
alone,  that  they  expect  to  conquer,  but  by  the 
fitness  of  the  means  they  employ  in  using  the 
cross,  and  their  real  hope  seems  to  be,  after  all, 
in  the  instrument  of  the  instrument.  There  was 
great  hope  when  the  emperor,  who  has  just 
been  named,  became  champion  of  the  Christians, 


THE  SECOND  PETITION.  I  IQ 

but  that  hope  was  disappointed.  It  is  true,  his 
conversion,  such  as  it  was,  made  Christianity  an 
aristocratic  thing, — wealth,  honour,  office  were  all 
on  its  side,  and  the  creed  of  the  monarch  be- 
came the  creed  of  the  people,  but  influences 
were  thus  set  working  that  tended  to  poison 
Christianity  and  to  postpone  the  coming  of  the 
kingdom.  When  an  old  Saxon  king  gave  up 
his  gods  and  was  baptized,  he  would  bid  his 
riders  to  do  the  same,  and  they  would,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  obey  their  master's  bidding.  Equally 
as  a  matter  of  course,  Christianity  would  be- 
come the  fashion,  but  the  heathen  people  though 
marked  with  the  sign  of  the  cross,  were  heathen 
people  still, — still  trembling  in  terror  of  the 
spiritual  world  and  the  hidden  wrath  of  nature. 
The  unknown  powers  they  once  worshipped 
through  such  old  names  as  Freya,  Thor,  and 
Woden,  they  still  worshipped,  though  under  such 
new  names  as  the  Virgin  Mary,  Saint  Giles,  or 
Saint  Lawrence ;  and  the  kingdom  of  the 
Father  seemed  to  be  very  little  nearer  than  it 
was  before.  It  is  true  in  modern  as  in  olden 
time,  that  when  fancy  Christianity,  or  any 
other  version  of  it,  gets  married  to  rank  and 
social  status,  even  the  world  will  join  that 
church,  fashion  will  profess  that  truth,  and  in- 
fidelity will  make  believe  to  believe ;  but  it  is 
not  in  this  way  that  the  kingdom  will  come. 
Great  things  for  the  Gospel  have  been  expected 


I20  THE  SECOND  PETITION. 

from  education,  from  traffic,  and  from  the  ad- 
vancement of  science,  but  these  are  not  the 
primary  instruments  for  bringing  about  a  chosen, 
cheerful  subjection  of  hearts  to  the  King  who  is 
a  Spirit  and  whose  name  is  Love.  Sometimes, 
when  a  nation  professing  to  live  under  the 
standard  of  the  cross,  has  had  brilliant  martial 
successes,  and  heathen  peoples  have  thus  been 
brought  under  its  sway,  this  has  been  gloried  in 
as  a  fact  on  the  side  of  the  Gospel.  The  horse 
"  paweth  in  the  valley,  and  rejoiceth  in  his 
strength,  he  goeth  on  to  meet  the  armed  men. 
He  mocketh  at  fear,  and  is  not  affrighted  ; 
neither  turneth  he  back  from  the  sword.  The 
quiver  rattleth  against  him  ;  the  glittering  spear 
and  the  shield.  He  swalloweth  the  ground  in 
his  fierceness  and  rage,  neither  believeth  he  that 
it  is  the  sound  of  the  trumpet.  He  saith  among 
the  trumpets,  Ha,  ha !  and  he  smelleth  the 
battle  afar  off,  the  thunder  of  the  captains  and 
the  shouting."  *  It  is  not  in  such  fields  that  He 
who  leads  "  the  armies  of  heaven  "  rides  forth  to 
victory.  War  may  in  a  single  day  stop  the 
beat  of  thousands  of  hearts,  quench  the  light  of 
thousands  of  eyes,  and  make  showers  of  tears 
fall,  but  though  the  Master  of  all  things,  good 
and  evil,  may  use  this  evil  thing  for  clearing 
obstacles  out  from  the  path  of  His  kingdom,  it 
is  not  by  it  that  the  kingdom  will  come  whose 
*  Job  xxxix.  21-25. 


THE  SECOND  PETITION.  I  2  I 

gentle  glories  are  depicted  in  the  sermon  on  the 
Mount.  The  one  instrumentality  for  setting  up 
that  kingdom  in  human  hearts  is  the  cross. 
This  alone  makes  it  possible  for  the  Father  to 
Avelcome  the  wandered  ones  who  come  back  to 
Him,  and,  at  the  same  time,  makes  them  glad 
to  obey  Him  as  their  King.  When  even  by  the 
humblest  words  or  deeds  we  publish  this  cross, 
we  are  taking  part  in  some  degree  in  working 
the  machinery  which  the  King  Himself  has 
appointed,  and  in  the  single  use  of  which  He 
will  win  back  His  dominion  over  the  human  will. 
3.  It  com.es  by  the  pozver  of  the  Spirit.  Think 
of  an  avalanche  coming  down  from  above  the 
snow-line  of  the  Alps.  See  it,  it  is  coming  with 
stern,  conquering  sway,  to  carry  all  before  it, 
but  at  first,  its  kingdom  "  cometh  not  with  ob- 
servation." It  slips  along  with  slow,  scarcely 
perceptible  motion.  In  time,  you  begin  to  see 
it  crawl,  crawl  dovv^n  the  incline,  "  It  is  coming ! " 
cry  some  watchers  from  the  valley  below ;  but 
they  get  used  to  it,  give  over  fearing,  and  go 
on  with  their  work  or  their  play.  One  day,  all 
the  people  are  in  terror ;  it  is  coming,  and  they 
now  know  it,  but  what  can  they  do  ^  Set  up  a 
barrier .''  raise  an  army  .-^  plant  and  point  great 
guns  at  it }  say  "  stop  !  "  Do  what  they  may,  on 
it  comes.  It  comes  faster  and  yet  faster,  "  dart- 
ing down  the  slopes,  flitting  from  shelf  to  shelf, 
jarring   the    mountain    where    it    strikes,"   still 


122  THE  SECOND  PETITION. 

glancing,  shooting,  bounding  on,  starting  vast 
rocks,  loosening  forests,  sweeping  away  grassy- 
acres  along  with  it  as  it  flys, — with  gathering 
mass  it  gains  gathering  mountains,  until  it 
thunders  over  into  the  vale  below  and  entombs 
a  village. 

Whose  hand  cut  that  stone  from  the  Alp  ? 
who  shot  it  ?  who  flung  it  into  the  green  gulph.? 
Ah  !  it  was  cut  without  hands,  and  in  our  world 
of  forms,  forces,  and  movements,  it  is  the  most 
impressive  symbol  we  know  of  gathering,  rush- 
ing power  that  is  not  of  man. 

Once  in  a  vision  of  the  night,  the  Spirit  of 
Prophecy  showed  an  avalanche  to  the  King  of 
Babylon.  He  had  in  the  same  vision  seen  "a 
great  image,"  whose  "  brightness  Avas  excellent," 
and  "the  form  thereof  was  terrible."  Then  "a 
stone  cut  from  the  mountain,  without  hands," 
smote  the  image,  \vhich  was  of  iron,  clay,  brass, 
silver,  gold,  and  broke  all  these  in  pieces. 
Through  the  lips  of  Daniel  the  prophet,  the 
"  Revealer  of  Secrets  "  showed  that  the  terrible 
image,  fashioned  in  different  parts,  of  different 
materials,  represented  the  great,  successive  ruling 
powers  in  the  future  of  this  world.  "  In  the 
days  of  these  kings,"  thus  said  the  Lord,  "  shall 
the  God  of  heaven  set  up  a  kingdom  which 
shall  never  be  destroyed ;  and  the  kingdom 
shall  not  be  left  to  other  people,  but  it  shall 
break  in  pieces,  and  consume  all  these  kingdoms. 


THE  SECOND  PETITION.  I  23 

and  it  shall  stand  for  ever.  Forasmuch  as 
thou  sawest  that  the  stone  was  cut  out  of  the 
mountain  without  hands,  and  that  it  brake  in 
pieces  the  iron,  the  brass,  the  clay,  and  the  gold  ; 
the  great  God  hath  made  known  to  the  king 
what  shall  come  to  pass  hereafter  ;  and  the 
dream  is  certain,  and  the  interpretation  thereof, 
is  sure."*  So  will  the  kingdom  of  God  come. 
Man  works  with  his  hands,  and  this  kingdom 
will  come  as  such  a  stone  comes,  "  without 
hands."  It  will  come,  that  is,  without  that 
power  of  motion  which  begins  in  man's  working, 
here  fitly  symbolised  by  "hands."  It  will  come 
by  the  power  of  its  own  divine  vitality  and 
momentum.  It  will  come  in  Gospel  truth, 
instinct  with  the  life  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  reign- 
ing in  the  lives  of  more  and  more  believers,  until 
"  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
Lord  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea."  So  mighty 
and  universal  shall  this  reign  be.  It  will  come 
not  as  a  blow  scattering  terror,  not  as  an 
avalanche  of  death,  but  as  that  which  will  only 
kill  evil,  and  under  whose  prevalence,  "  mortality 
shall  be  swallowed  up  of  life."  Thus  shall  rise 
the  "  Stone  of  vision,  overlooking  all  the  realm 
of  the  earth." 

Ill,  Hoiv  we  should  pray  for  this. 

I.   Every  one  of  us  must  pray  that  the  king- 

'   Daniel  ii. 


124  THE  SECOND  PETITION, 

dom  may  come  in  his  own  heart.  The  speech 
of  each  one  must  be,  though  I  am  the  king's 
child,  through  "  having  received  the  Spirit  of 
adoption  ;"  His  reign  in  my  heart  is  still  a  pro- 
cess, not  a  complete  result,  and  in  the  full  sense 
of  the  word  His  kingdom  though  coming,  is  not 
yet  come.  My  prayer  ought  to  be  more  than 
it  is, — Let  thy  kingdom  come  in  me.  It  is  sadly 
symptomatic  of  my  soul's  ill  health  that  I  find 
myself  offering  prayers  for  so  many  other  things 
before  this.  I  want  His  forgiveness,  I  want  His 
comfort,  I  want  His  light  and  protection,  I  want 
His  support  in  what  I  suffer,  and  His  blessing  on 
what  I  do,  but  I  do  not  yet  feel  as  I  ought  to 
feel,  and  pray  as  I  ought  to  pray  for  the  reign 
of  His  grace  in  me.  I  am  sometimes  ready  to 
say.  Father,  save  me  out  of  my  afflictions,  let  me 
come  home  ;  let  this  wicked  Absalom,  my  soul, 
see  the  King's  face;  yet  the  work  of  His  subduing 
spirit  comes  on  so  slowly  within  me,  that  I 
almost  doubt  it  should  yet  be  ready  to  enjoy 
the  condition  of  the  glorified — 

"  I  cannot  heal,  I  cannot  hide 
My  leprosy  of  sin  and  pride  ; 
And  were  I  summoned  thus  unmeet 
To  join  the  saints  on  Zion  street — 
Now,  would  my  envy  knit  her  frown 
At  one  who  wore  a  brighter  crown  ; 
And  now,  my  sullen  discontent 
Would  mar  the  work  o'er  which  I  bent. 


THE  SECOND  PETITION.  I  25 

For  earthly  joys  my  soul  would  long, 
Soon  weary  of  the  heavenly  song — 
The  sweet  unrest,  the  holy  care. 
The  yoke  of  love,  the  raiment  fair."  * 

Heaven  must  be  in  me,  before  I  can  be  heaven, 
and  I  need  the  power  of  the  new  life  to  master 
the  sickness  of  sin.  My  heart  would  Hft  its 
gates  daily  that  the  King  of  Glory  may  come 
in.  I  want  Him  "  to  lodge  in  the  castle,  with 
His  mighty  captains  and  men  of  war,  to  the  joy 
of  the  town  of  Mansoul."*!*  Therefore,  on  my 
own  account,  my  prayer  shall  be  daily  this, 
"  Thy  kingdom  come." 

2.  Let  all  join  in  prayer,  that  the  kingdom 
may  come  in  the  world.  The  absolute  certainty  of 
the  event  does  not  render  prayer  for  its  accom- 
plishment the  less  imperative.  The  promises 
were  given,  not  to  supersede,  but  to  encourage 
prayer,  and  when  we  turn  the  promises  into 
prayers,  we  do  but  conform  to  the  order  be- 
tween cause  and  effect,  and  the  end  is  not  more 
certainly  a  matter  of  decree  than  are  the 
various  means  to  its  attainment.  When  Jehovah 
promised  to  "restore  the  waste  places  of  Judah, 
and  to  plant  that  which  was  desolate,"  He 
subjoined  the  order,  "  I  will  yet  for  this  be 
inquired    of    by   the    house    of    Israel,   to   do 

*  G.  S.  Outram. 

t  Bunyan's  "  Holy  War,"  chapter  ix. 


I  26  THE  SECOND  PETITION. 

it  for  them."  Just  as  when  He  promises 
bread,  it  is  through  the  implied  use  of  our 
hands ;  when  He  promises  knowledge,  it  is 
through  the  implied  use  of  lessons ;  when 
He  promises  grace,  it  is  through  the  implied 
use  of  the  "  means  of  grace  ;  "  when  He  has, 
in  manifold  language,  assured  us  that  His  reign 
in  this  world  will  come,  it  is  implied  that  it  will 
come  through  the  working  of  the  law  of  prayer. 
The  sight  of  the  world's  sin  in  its  inveteracy 
and  universality,  sometimes  makes  the  lips 
whiten,  and  the  heart  fail.  "  In  the  multitude 
of  thoughts  "  that  hold  parliament  within  us, 
one  sceptic  thought  will  sometimes  rise  to  say 
of  the  Almighty,  "  What  profit  should  we  have, 
if  we  pray  to  Him.?"*  Though  we  go  on 
praying  for  the  kingdom,  our  spirit  is  cast 
down.  "  How  long  it  is  in  coming !  "  we  say. 
A  poet  sings  of  God,  "  His  purposes  will  ripen 
fast,  unfolding  every  hour."  Will  they.?  It 
seems  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  do  not. 
It  is  now  1883  years  ago  since  Christ  was  born, 
yet  look  at  the  world  !  "  We  see  not  yet,  all 
things  put  under  Him."  We  must  have  patience. 
"  He  inhabiteth  eternity ; "  we  inhabit  only  a 
few  years  of  time.  The  soul  flutters  amongst 
those  buds  of  beautiful  purpose,  said  to  "  ripen 
fast,"  and  we  think  of  a  butterfly  hovering 
about  the  buds  in  a  spring  garden.  Does  it 
*  Job  xxi.  15. 


THE  SECOND  PETITION.  llj 

fancy  that  the  hard,  green  sheaths  will  never 
burst  into  flower  ?  Before  they  do,  perhaps 
the  frail  little  hoverer  will  shrivel  and  drop, 
but  for  all  that,  the  roses  will  come  out  one  by 
one  at  the  right  season  ;  so  let  our  impatient 
spirits  be  assured,  it  will  be  with  the  promises 
of  the  kingdom.  Oh,  it  is  coming !  although 
at  times  the  world  may  be  at  moments  as  little 
like  heaven  as  when  it  crucified  Christ,  the 
reign  of  the  Father  is  sure  in  due  season  to 
show  itself,  for  no  power  can  ever  frustrate  His 
purpose,  or  falsify  His  word. 

Prayer  speaks  different  languages,  takes 
different  forms.  Sometimes  it  takes  the  form 
of  words,  sometimes  of  gifts,  sometimes  of 
actions,  sometimes  of  strenuous  fight ;  and, 
perhaps,  at  the  moment  when  in  this  world  the 
fight  has  reached  its  most  exciting  crisis,  and 
the  soldiers  of  the  Cross  have  done  and  suffered 
to  their  utmost  extremity,  there  may  be  wit- 
nessed one  grand  and  final  illustration  of  the 
proverb,  "  Man's  extremity,  God's  opportunity." 
I  look  for  Christ  to  come  somewhat  as  His 
coming  is  described  by  the  seer  of  the  "  Holy 
War'' — in  the  thick  of  the  battle  between 
Captains  Credence  and  Diabolus.  The  brave 
men  of  Mansoul  had  fought  hard  all  day  out- 
side their  walls,  to  beat  back  the  Powers  of 
Darkness.  The  battle  seemed  to  waver  in  the 
balance.     At  one  time  victory  seemed    to    be 


I  28  THE  SECOND  PETITION. 

on  the  side  of  Faith,  at  another  on  the  side  of 
Faith's  terrible  foe,  when,  just  as  the  sun  was 
setting,  and  when  the  armies  were  in  deadly 
wrestle,  "  Captain  Credence  lifted  up  his  eyes 
and  saw,  and  behold,  Emmanuel  came,  with 
colours  flying,  trumpets  sounding,  and  the  feet 
of  his  men  scarce  touching  the  ground."*  "Then 
the  lords  of  the  pit  made  their  escape,"  and 
forsook  their  soldiers,  leaving  them  to  fall 
before  the  Prince.  Over  the  dead  doubters 
rode  the  royal  army,  and  the  victorious  church 
saluted  its  victorious  Lord.  So,  let  us  believe, 
will  Christ  come,  and  thus  shall  be  brought  to 
pass  the  saying  that  is  written,  "  The  kingdoms 
of  this  world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our 
Lord  and  of  His  Christ,  and  He  shall  reign  for 
ever  and  ever." 

Let  us,  while  striving  to  learn  in  the  stillness 
of  secret  meditation,  how  to  offer  aright  this 
prayer  when  we  come  into  the  praying  com- 
pany, think  and-  pray  our  way  from  passage  to 
passage  deliberately,  and  with  great  searching 
of  heart.  Before  we  go  on  to  the  next  petition, 
let  us  pause  at  this — give  time  for  it  to  sink 
into  our  souls,  strike  with  its  own  power,  and 
do  its  own  work  there.  Let  us  take  home  the 
words  of  John  Bradford,  the  martyr,  "  When  a 
man  shall  say,  '  Thy  kingdom  come,'  and  then 
shall  be  thinking  with  himself,  '  Oh,  but  if  it 
*  "  Holy  War,"  chapter  xvii. 


THE  SECOND  PETITION.  I  29 

should  now  come,  what  a  case  I  am  in  ! '  then, 
let  him  not  in  the  midst  of  these  thoughts  say, 
'  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven  ' 
— so  letting  the  tongue  go  on  with  something 
else  before  his  heart  has  done  with  this  ;  but  let 
there  be  deliberate  attendance  and  careful 
dwelling  on  one  particular  before  the  next  be 
presented."  * 

*  Quoted  from  memory. 


VI. 


THE  THIRD  PETITION. 

"Thy  will  be  done  in  earth;  as  it  is  in  heaven." — Matt. 
vi.  lo.  "Thy  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth." — LuKE 
xi.  2.     Authorized  Version. 

"Thy  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth." — Matt,  vi,  lo. 
Omitted  from  the  Gospel  by  Luke.     Revised  Version, 

According  to  the  revisers,  this  sentence  is 
given  only  in  St  Matthew.  His  report  of  the 
wonderful  prayer  appears  to  be  the  standard  ; 
the  report  in  St  Luke  to  be,  in  some  respects, 
an  abridgement ;  the  design  of  our  Lord  in 
this  renewed  utterance,  not  being  to  tell  it 
over  again  word  for  word,  but  to  recall  the 
attention  of  His  disciples  to  it,  as  to  something 
which  they  had  not  properly  kept  in  mind. 
The  second  form  refers  back  to  the  first.  Both 
breathe  the  spirit  of  this  petition,  but  the  first 
expresses  the  spirit  in  the  letter.  All  who  are 
saying,  or  trying  hard  to  say,  "  Thy  will  be 
done,"  may  well  be  thankful  still  to  know  that 
these  very  words  are  in  the  original  and  com- 
plete prayer. 


THE  THIRD  PETITION.  I  3  I 

I.  What  do  we  mean  by  this  petition  ? 

I.  In  presenting  it,  we  pray  that  the  will  of 
God  may  be  done  by  the  will  of  man*     Without 
this  as  a  primary  meaning,  the  prayer  is  need- 
less, for  what  would  be  the  use  of  saying  to 
the    omnipotent    Sovereign    of    the    universe, 
"  Thy  will  be  done  "  ?     As  far  as  He  is  con- 
cerned, it  is  done  already,  and  ever  must  be, 
whether  we  pray  for   it  or   not.     "Who   hath 
resisted  His  will  ? ''     "  He  doeth  according  to 
His  will  in  the  army  of  heaven,  and  among  the 
inhabitants  of  earth,  and    none   can   stay  His 
hand,  or  say  unto  Him,  What  doest  thou  }  "t 
"  I  will  take  the  city,  whether  Zeus  wills  it  or 
not !  "  cried  the  furious  Kapaneus,  as  he  rushed 
up  the  scaling  ladder  at  the  siege  of  ancient 
Thebes,  but   a   thunderbolt   struck   him   dead. 
"  I    will    take   Moscow,"   was    the   resolve    of 
Napoleon,  and  when  the  old  saying  was  cited, 
"  Man  proposes,  but  God  disposes,"  he  declared 
that  he  intended  both  to  propose  and  dispose. 
*'  Words  are  but  air,   and   tongues   but   clay '' 
— we  know  that,  after  all,  he  was  defeated,  and 
that  the  retreat  from  Moscow  was   almost   a 
miracle  of  disaster.     While  men  in  the  intoxi- 
cation of  absolute  power,  and  in  the  worship  of 

*  Non  ut  Deus  facial  quod  vult,  sed  ut  nos  facere 
possimus  quod  Deus  vult." — Cyprian,  "  De  Oratione 
Dominica." 

t  Daniel  iv.  35. 


1  3  2  THE  THIRD  PETITION. 

their  own  wills,  forget  their  human  limitations, 
and  refuse  to  own  a  superior,  the  King  of 
kings  is  all  the  while  using  them  as  blind 
instruments,  is  bending  with  infinite  ease  the 
mightiest  and  most  refractory  elements  into 
the  service  of  His  own  determinations,  and  is 
shewing  that  whether  it  is  man's  will  or  not, 
His  will  must  be  done. 

Then,  is  war  His  will  ?  is  ignorance  His  will  ? 

is  injustice  His  will  ?  is  misery  His  will  ?     Is 

it  His  will  that  life  should  dwindle  and  pine 

through  filth,  neglect,  or  overcrowding  in  great 

cities  ?     Is  it  His  will  that  infants  should  die 

through  quieting  mixtures  and  ardent  spirits  ? 

Is  sin  His  will  ?     Had  His  will  been  done  when 

He  said  to  the  favoured  nation  of  old,  "  O  that 

thou  hadst  ^hearkened  to  My  commandments  ! 

then  had  thy  peace  been  as  a  river,  and  thy 

righteousness   as    the   waves    of    the    sea "  ?  * 

"  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the 

prophets,  and  stonest  them  that  are  sent  unto 

thee,  how   often    would   I    have   gathered   thy 

children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her 

chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not ! 

Behold,  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate  !  "  t 

We  have  to  distinguish  between  His  will  of 

command  and   His  will  of  control.     Included 

in  the  fact  that  on  this  earth  His  reign  has  not 

yet   come,  things   exist  here  that   are    not   in 

*  Is.  xlviii.  17.  t  Matt  xxiii.  37,  38. 


THE  THIRD  PETITION.  I  33 

accordance  with  His  will  of  command,  and 
these  things,  therefore,  are  simply  under  His 
will  of  control.  Failing  to  see  this  distinction — 
holding  the  hazy  creed  that  somehow,  whatever 
thing  happens,  it  is  His  will — regarding  things 
as  His  will  which  are  in  reality  only  obstruc- 
tions to  the  free  workings  of  His  will — some 
persons  have  glided  into  the  habit  of  mistaking 
quiescence  in  evil,  for  the  trance  of  Christian 
resignation. 

We  do  the  will  of  God  in  the  sense  intended 
by  our  Teacher,  when,  His  spirit  in  our  hearts, 
and  His  book  in  our  hands,  we  pay  Him  our 
obedience — active  obedience  to  His  will  as 
recorded  in  the  words  of  revelation,  passive 
obedience — that  is,  the  obedience  of  lowly  and 
patient  submission  to  His  will  as  expressed  in 
the  direction  or  discipline  of  events.  From  the 
nature  of  this,  it  must  be  done  willingly.  It  is 
by  the  exercise  of  God's  own  will  that  the 
material  creation  obeys  Him.  He  himself 
sways  to  unsinning  obedience  the  tides  in 
their  beat  and  the  stars  in  their  courses.  It  is 
by  Himself  that  His  will  is  done  in  the  happy 
things  of  the  earth,  and  air,  and  water.  What 
child  of  God  cannot  enter  into  the  words  of  one 
who,  years  ago,  wrote  in  a  time  of  distress — 
"The  sight  01^  innocent  birds  in  the  branches 
and  sheep  in  the  pastures,  who  act  according 
to   the   will    of    their    Creator,    hath    at   times 


134  THE  THIRD  PETITION. 

tended  to  mitigate  my  troubles."*  His  will  is 
done  in  the  birds,  insects,  and  flowers  ;  but  we, 
who  are  beings  with  wills  of  our  own,  "are 
required  to  do  willingly,  what  the  flowers  do 
unconsciously,"  We,  by  our  own  choice,  are  to 
spread  ourselves  out  to  His  light,  drink  it  in, 
and  pour  it  out  again  in  the  beauty  and  frag- 
rance of  holiness.  We  would  not  obey  His  will 
against  our  own  will,  as  slaves  do,  but  would  be 
as  happy  children  delighting  in  the  "  dear  God 
who  loveth  us." 

"Thy  kingdom  come;  Thy  will  be  done." 
At  first  these  two  petitions  seem  to  be  but  two 
forms  of  one  and  the  same.  The  second  has 
been  called  an  "  amplifying  and  explicative 
sentence,"  repeating  the  spirit  of  the  first.  As 
we  look  again,  we  see  a  difference.  When  we 
say,  "  Thy  kingdom  come,"  the  turn  of  thought 
is  chiefly  towards  the  Father,  when  we  go  on  to 
say,  "  Thy  will  be  done,"  we  are  thinking  more 
especially  of  ourselves,  the  children.  In  the 
one  case  we  pray  that  He  may  rule  ;  in  the 
other,  that  we  may  boiv  to  His  rule.  In  the 
one,  we  say,  "be  Thou  our  gracious  king;"  in 
the  other,  "  make  us  Thy  willing  people."  hi 
us,  thro2igh  us, /or  us,  over  us, — "Our  Father," 
"  Thy  will  be  done."     This  is  our  will. 

2.  This  is  the  prayer  of  a  renovated  will. 

We  pray  with  our  ivill  that  the  will  of  God 
*  John  Woolman. 


THE  THIRD  PETITION.  I  35 

may  be  done.     Some  Christians  dimly  think  that 
a  Christian  is  to  have  no  will  at  all,  and  that 
the  consummation  prayed  for  here,  is  that  our 
own  wills  may  die,  and  that  the  only  will  left 
living,  should  be  God's.     This  practically  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  monastery,  which  we  may  be 
allowed  to  illustrate  by  an  oft-told  tale  from  the 
life  of  St  Francis.     The  grand  rule  of  his  order 
is  the  implicit  submission  of  each  monk's  will 
to  the  will  of  his  superior.      "  One  day,  a  monk 
proved  refractory  ;  his  will  had  to  be  conquered. 
*  Dig  a  grave,'    said    Francis   to   the   brothers. 
They  dug  a  grave  deep  enough  to  hold  a  man 
standing   upright.     '  Put   him    into    it.'     They 
put  him  down  into  it.     *  Shovel  in  the  earth.' 
They  did  so,  while  he  stood  by  stern  as  death. 
When  the  mould  had  reached  the  victim's  knees, 
the  superior  bent  down,  fixed  his  eyes  upon  him, 
and  said,   '  Are   you    dead  yet .-" '     No  answer. 
Down  in   that  grave  stood  a  man   whose  will 
was  iron  as   his   own.     The  signal  was  given, 
and  the  burial  went  on.     Up  to  the  knees,  up 
to   the    neck,  up  to   the   lips   the   mould  was 
shovelled  in.     Then   Francis  bent  once  more, 
and  said.  Are  you  dead  now  .■''     The  man  in  the 
grave  looked  up,  and  saw,  in  the  cold,  grey  eyes 
that  were  fixed  upon  him,  no  spark  of  human 
feeling.     Dead    to    pity,    dead    to    nature,    St 
Francis  stood  ready  in  another  moment  to  give 
the  signal  for  the  complete  entombment.     Just 


136  THE  THIRD  PETITION. 

in  time,  the  iron  broke,  the  will  died,  the  funeral 
stopped,  for  the  crushed  man — a  man  no  longer, 
because  he  now  had  no  will,  said,  '  I  am  dead,' 
and  was  lifted  out  to  join  the  dead  men  called 
monks  of  the  order  of  St  Francis," 

That  kind  of  death  is  not  the  death  gloried 
in  by  him  who  said,  "  I  am  crucified  with  Christ." 
Man   would  cease  to  be  man  if  he  ceased  to 
have  a  will,  and  God  could   not  be  our  God 
if  we  are  dead  ;  for  "  God  is  not  the  God  of  the 
dead,  but  of  the  living."     The  death  we  wish 
for,  is  the  death  not  of  the  will,  but  of  self  as 
its  master,  through  the  new  and  enthroned  life 
of  Christ.      God's  will  is  that  our  will  should 
by  renovation  be  more  energetically  alive  than 
ever,  working  in  harmony  with  His  own.     This 
is  what  we  pray  for  here.     We  pray  that  our  own 
lives  and  all  related  lives  may  be  brought  into 
such  entire  unanimity  with  God,  that  what  He 
wills,  we   may,  and   that  so   His  will  may  be 
done.     The  great  Augustine,  speaking  of  this 
prayer,  tells  us  that  it  is  another  way  of  saying, 
"  Grant  that  we  may  never  seek  to  bend  the 
straight  to  the  crooked,  that  is.  Thy  will  to  ours, 
but  that  we,  and  all  doers,  may  bend  the  crooked 
to  the  straight,"  our  will  to  Thine,  "  that  Thy  will 
may  be  done."     We  do  not  thus  pray  naturally. 
Naturally,  we  put  self,  not  God  in  the  first  place. 
It  is  therefore   proof  of  renovation,  it   is  the 


THE  THIRD  PETITION.  1 37 

prayer  of  children  who  have  been  born  again,  it 
is  the  zvill  that  speaks,  and  the  will  all  alive 
with  "  the  power  of  an  endless  life." 

3.  In  this  prayer  to  our  Father,  we  say  with 
emphasis,  TJiy  will  be  done. 

Here,  therefore,  in  the  form  of  prayer  given  to 
us  by  Jesus  Christ,  not  only  for  its  own  literal 
use,  but  for  use  as  a  directory  to  prescribe  and 
govern  the  method  and  spirit  of  all  prayer  and 
supplication,  we  are  taught  to  ask  for  nothing 
but  with  the  distinct  proviso  that  it  accords  with 
the  will  of  God.  Before  we  ask  for  a  single  thing 
on  our  own  account,  we  lay  this  foundation  stone 
to  build  it  on,  "  Thy  will  be  done,"  and  we  de- 
liberately pray  that  our  other  prayers  may  be 
refused  if  they  clash  with  this.  Our  real  prayer, 
our  ruling  prayer,  the  threefold  prayer,  out  of 
which  as  out  of  a  root,  all  the  following  prayers 
are.  to  spring,  is,  "Hallowed  be  Thy  name, 
Thy  kipgdom  come,  Thy  will  be  done." 

This  principle  has  not  always  received  its 
due  prominence.  In  many  minds  there  is  the 
impression,  if  not  the  distinct  belief  that  prayer 
is  simply  the  request  that  our  wills  may  be  done 
— done  in  this  or  that  specified  particular.  The 
notion  often  is,  that  if  we  do  but  set  our  hearts 
on  certain  things  and  offer  prayers  for  them — 
prayers  that  are  long  enough  or  strong  enough — 
pleading  the  merits  of  Christ,  "  asking  in  faith, 
nothing  doubting,''  what  we  ask  for  we  shall 


138  THE  THIRD  PETITION. 

certainly  have.  The  thoughts  of  some  good 
people  are  in  a  tangle  about  this,  and  no  great 
injustice  is  done  to  their  views  by  the  definition 
thus  put  by  a  certain  secularist, — *'  Prayer  is  a 
machine,  warranted  by  theologians  to  make  God 
do  what  His  clients  want."  After  what  Chris- 
tians have  sometimes  said,  we  are  hardly  sur- 
prised that  in  some  instances  the  Christian 
doctrine  has  been  understood  to  be  that  prayer 
is  one  of  the  laws  of  nature,  so  that  if  used  by 
one  who  understood  it,  the  prayer-power,  like 
any  other  natural  power,  must  work  out  certain 
known  and  invariable  results  according  to  the 
will  of  the  operator,  that  will  giving  sole  direc- 
tion. This  led  to  the  well-known  challenge 
made  a  few  years  ago  by  a  scientific  enquirer  : 
"  I  ask  that  one  single  ward  or  hospital,  under 
the  care  of  first-rate  physicians  and  surgeons, 
containing  certain  numbers  of  patients  afflicted 
with  those  diseases  which  have  been  best  studied, 
and  of  which  the  mortality  rates  are  best  known, 
&c.,  should  be,  during  a  period  of  not  less,  say, 
than  three  or  five  years,  made  the  obj  ect  of  special 
prayer  by  the  whole  body  of  the  faithful,  and 
that,  at  the  end  of  that  time,  the  mortality  rates 
should  be  compared  with  the  past  rates,  and 
also  with  those  of  other  leading  hospitals^  simi- 
larly well  managed  during  the  same  space  of 
time." 

No  test  could  have  been  more  fair  and  rational 


THE  THIRD  PETITION.  1 39 

than  this,  if  we  had  to  regard  the  question  about 
prayer  simply  as  a  disputed  principle  in  natural 
science.  In  that  case,  as  after  a  certain  use  of 
the  galvanic  battery,  a  shock  will  follow,  so, 
after  certain  prayers,  we  should  expect  certain 
answers  in  the  natural  order  of  cause  and  effect, 
and  we  might  fairly  try  prayer  in  the  wards  of  an 
infirmary,  just  as  we  try  quinine,  or  bark,  or  any 
other  natural  means  for  making  a  sick  man 
well. 

But  prayer  is  not  one  of  the  powers  of  nature  ; 
it  is  one  of  the  means  of  grace.  It  is  not  like 
a  medical  prescription,  the  efficacy  of  which  is 
quite  irrespective  of  a  right  moral  spirit  of  the 
person  who  tries  it.  It  is  not  a  mere  applica- 
tion to  God  in  language,  with  whatever  confi- 
dence in  our  success.  Its  power  altogether 
depends  on  its  spirit.  While  it  is  an  instru- 
ment by  which  God  gives  good  things  to  His 
children,  it  is  a  process  by  which  He  educates 
them  ;  for  thus  their  souls  are  brought  into 
sympathy  with  Himself.  We  are  to  ask  for 
nothing  but  with  the  understanding  that  in  our 
receiving  it.  His  will  may  be  done.  His  will 
includes  obedience,  purity,  love,  and  all  Christian 
grace.  We  are  to  have  the  things  we  pray  for, 
if  they  are,  and  if  we  are  in  harmony  with  this. 
We  are  in  this  way  fitted  to  receive  the  gifts 
God  is  waiting  to  grant,  and  if  not  spiritually 


140  THE  THIRD  PETITION. 

fitted  to  receive  them,  common  sense  tells  us  we 
are  better  without  them. 

We  disclaim  every  form  and  degree  of  the 
doctrine  that  prayer  is  simply  an  expedient  for 
getting  our  own  way.  Such  a  theory  creates 
infidels,  and  its  acceptance  as  true  would  make 
prayer  itself  the  ruin  of  us.  It  would  be  fatal 
to  faith  in  the  power  of  prayer,  or  in  the  good 
of  it.  Fatal  to  faith  in  its  power.  It  is  plain 
that  all  the  prayers  prompted  simply  by  the 
will  of  man  could  not  be  granted.  Prayer  by 
some  suppliants  that  certain  things  may  be  ; 
by  others  that  they  may  not  be ;  by  some  for 
the  success,  by  others  for  the  defeat  of  the  same 
cause,  could  not  both  be  granted  at  the  same 
time.  The  prayer  of  devout  Lord  Falkland  that 
the  king  might  win,  and  prayers  by  the  devout 
Colonel  Hutchison  that  the  Parliament  might 
win  the  same  battle,  could  not  have  both  been 
granted.  Prayers  on  a  sunny  day,  of  certain 
farmers  in  a  country  church  that  fine  weather 
may  last  because  their  hay  is  down,  and  prayers 
of  others  on  the  other  side  of  the  road  that  rain 
may  come,  because  their  hay  is  stocked,  and 
crops  of  other  kinds  may  be  damaged  by  dry 
weather,  are  prayers  not  likely  to  be  both 
granted. 

But  if  the  unqualified  prayers  that  our  own 
wills  may  be  done,  were  such  that  the  answer 
to  them  would  not  of  necessity  imply  physical 


THE  THIRD  PETITION.  14I 

contradictions  and  impossibilities  like  these,  and 
if,  without  reference  to  the  way  of  the  Supreme, 
you  gained  by  prayer  your  own  way  in  every- 
thing, what  would  be  the  effect  ?  What  would 
be  the  effect  on  your  own  child,  if  you  allowed 
him  by  prayer  to  you,  to  gain  his  own  way  in 
everything  ?  If,  while  in  the  nursery,  when  he 
cried  for  a  thing,  he  always  had  it  ?  If,  while 
still  a  little  one,  scarcely  able  to  lisp  his  wish, 
he  asked  for  fire,  or  sharp  steel,  or  explosive 
chemicals  to  play  with,  and  had  what  he  asked 
for?  If,  when  in  a  fit  of  industry,  he  asked 
leave  to  weed  up  all  the  choice  plants  in  the 
garden,  he  had  it  ?  If,  because  his  •^ill  was 
against  school,  he  was  not  sent  to  school  ?  If,  as 
life  went  on  he  could  always  plead  a  promise  of 
yours,  that  he  had  only  to  fill  up  the  blank  of  a 
cheque  according  to  his  own  will,  and  you  would 
always  sign  it  ?  We  need  not  ask,  and  indeed 
such  an  experiment  would  be  so  extreme,  that 
our  minds  refuse  to  take  in  the  idea. 

Yet  you  know  infinitely  less  of  the  great  God's 
thoughts  and  ways  than  your  nurseling  does  of 
yours.  For  his  will  to  be  the  rule  rather  than 
yours,  would  be  infinitely  less  disastrous  than 
for  your  will  to  be  done  rather  than  God's.  You 
will  not  allow  your  child  to  have  everything  he 
asks  for,  simply  because  it  is  his  will  to  have  it, 
yet  most  likely  it  is  the  wise  law  of  your  house 
that  he  should  ask  you  for  things  he  wishes  for, 


142  THE  THIRD  PETITION. 

when  they  are  beyond  the  routine  of  his  life, 
that  when  he  does  so,  you  will  if  you  can,  and  it 
is  for  his  good,  give  him  those  things ;  that  you 
will  not,  as  a  rule,  give  them  unless  he  asks,  and 
that  you  only  give  them  with  the  understand- 
ing that  your  will  is  thus  done.  So  the  Heavenly 
Father  deals  with  us.  The  child  asks  for  what 
seems  best.  The  Father  reserves  to  Himself  the 
right  to  decide  on  what  is  best.  The  child  recog- 
nizes that  right,  and  says  as  Jesus  did  in  the  gar- 
den, "Father,  not  My  will,  but  Thine  be  done." 

If,  indeed,  we  regarded  prayer  as  "a  machine 
for  making  God  do  the  will  of  man,"  or  as  a 
power  in  nature,  like  any  other  such  power,  sure 
as  law,  to  take  effect  according  to  the  will  of 
those  who  know  how  to  use  it ;  if  we  sought  to 
change  the  will  of  God  ;  if  we  held  the  mons- 
trous creed  that,  by  the  law  of  prayer  God 
places  his  Omnipotence  at  the  disposal  of  our 
weakness,  so  that  we  could  make  ourselves  or 
others,  rich  or  poor,  well  or  ill,  live  or  die  by 
our  prayers  ;  if  we  taught  that  His  power  could 
be  wielded  by  man's  ignorance,  and  be  subject 
unconditionally  to  man's  will ;  if  the  praying 
habit  which  Christ  enjoins  and  Christians  prac- 
tice were  such  a  dangerous  instrument,  having 
under  the  name  of  a  blessing  the  reality  of  a 
curse ;  we  should  have  no  more  to  say. 

As   it  is,   the   very   act  of  prayer  helps   to 
make  our  will  go  along  with  God's.     Each  one 


THE  THIRD  PETITION.  143 

whose  own  will  has  been  renovated,  is  learning 
to  sing — 

"  I  worship  Thee,  sweet  will  of  God, 
And  all  Thy  ways  adore, 
And  every  day  I  live,  I  long 
To  love  Thee  more  and  more."  * 

Some  will  must  be  done.  Whose  .-•  Thy  will, 
our  Father  !  The  will  of  the  Best,  Wisest,  most 
Holy,  most  Loving !  We  adore,  we  obey,  we 
delight.  Ours  is  not  a  mere  submission  to  the 
inevitable,  but  a  choice  of  the  charming,  for  it 
is  Thy  will,  the  one  will  that  is  perfect. 

"  O  Almighty  and  most  merciful  God,  by 
Thy  bountiful  goodness  keep  us,  we  beseech 
Thee,  from  all  things  that  may  hurt  us  ;  that 
we,  being  ready  both  in  body  and  in  soul,  may 
cheerfully  accomplish  those  things  that  Thou 
wouldest  have  done ;  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord.     Amen."-|- 

4.  We  pray  that  the  will  of  God  may  be 
done  "  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  In  the  New 
Version,  the  substituted  phrase,  "  as  in  heaven, 
so  on  earth,"  amounts,  as  far  as  we  can  see,  to 
the  same  thing.  Take  which  rendering  you 
choose,  it  is  not  in  the  nature  of  an  appendix  to 
what  has  gone  before,  but  is  the  flower,  the  very 
crown  and  climax,  the  glory  and  intensifica- 
tion of  the  petitions,  "  Thy  will   be  done,"     It 

*  Faber. 

t  Prayer  Book.  Collect  for  the  Twentieth  Sunday  after 
Trinity, 


144  THE  THIRD  PETITION. 

speaks  of  the  measure  and  degree  in  which 
God's  will  ought  to  be  done  by  us — namely,  as 
it  is  done  in  heaven.  "The  measure  which 
Christ  lays  down  for  us,  is  always  an  infinite 
measure,  and  the  pattern  is  always  a  heavenly 
pattern."  Our  heaven  is  not  a  mere  heaven  of 
the  senses.  It  is  the  world  where  God  is 
revealed  with  most  impressive  power  and  most 
enchanting  beauty ;  and  where  His  will  is  done 
— done  in  creation  and  in  history  ;  done  within 
and  without ;  done  in  body  and  in  soul,  done 
by  all  beings,  in  all  ways,  to  perfection  and  for 
ever.  The  inhabitants  of  heaven,  says  Baxter, 
"  obey  understanding^,  speedily,  sincerely,  fully, 
readily,  delightedly,  unweariedly,  and  concord- 
antly."  "  Willingly,  speedily,  sincerely,  fully, 
and  constantly,"  so  responds  Archbishop  Usher. 
This  is  a  prayer  that  the  world  may  be  just  what 
it  ought  to  be.  It  is  the  very  highest  ideal  of 
perfection  and  felicity  for  the  race.  Greater 
thought  never  dawned  on  man,  grander  prayer 
never  rose  to  God.  Only  by  degrees  can  we 
rise  to  a  true  conception  of  its  sublimity.  It 
means,  let  every  nation  on  earth,  every  province 
in  that  nation,  every  family  in  that  province, 
every  person  in  that  family  be  saved.  Let  every 
house  be  a  temple  of  God,  let  every  meal  be 
cucharistic,  let  every  man  be  a  priest,  and  every 
place  be  consecrated.  Let  the  Father  be 
revealed   through  the  Son  all  over  the  earth, 


THE  THIRD  PETITION,  1 45 

let  every  hand  bring  a  tribute  ;  every  eye  a 
glance,  every  voice  a  song.  From  every  land 
on  which  the  sunshine  strikes,  on  every  shore 
the  ocean  laves,  let  praise  softly  rise,  and 
sweetly  linger. 

II.  How  shall  we  use  this  petition  ?  With 
such  applications  as  the  following — 

I.  Thy  will  be  done  in  obedience  to  orders. 
The  first  meaning  is  an  active  one.  It  speaks  of 
doifig.  Too  often  this  prayer  is  thought  of 
as  a  holy  sigh ;  and  sounds  like  a  dismal, 
melting,  mournful  cadence  ;  an  echo  to  the  sobs 
of  Gethsemane;  a  cry  of  captives  while  their 
harps  are  hung  upon  the  willows,  and  tears  are 
mingling  with  the  stream  on  whose  banks  they 
are  flung ;  a  plaintive  note  wafted  from  some 
mourner  who  may  hereafter  say,  "  like  a  crane 
or  a  swallow,  so  did  I  chatter,  I  did  mourn  as  a 
dove;" — a  groan  from  a  cowed  and  exhausted 
nature ;  a  phrase  meaning,  "  we  can  do  nothing, 
it  is  of  no  use  to  try,  we  are  very  sorry,  but, — 
O  God,  Thy  will  be  done!" 

"  Thy  will  be  done."  Yes,  but  the  first 
question  is,  who  should  do  it .''  and  the  answer 
to  this  question  is,  "  You."  The  prayer  is  not, 
Thy  will  be  put  up  with.  Thy  will  be  suffered, 
Thy  will  be  borne  as  a  heavy  yoke  ;  but  "  Thy 
will  be  done."  It  is  not,  Thy  will  be  thought 
about,  Thy  will  be  cried  about,  but  "  Thy  will 
be  done."     The  language  is  resolute,  spirited, 


146  THE  THIRD  PETITION. 

full  of  spring  ;  it  has  in  it  the  eagerness  of  the 
enquiry,  "  Lord  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  P" 
The  Lord's  life  breathed  this  Lord's  prayer. 
When  from  the  distance  of  ages  He  spoke  of 
His  advent,  He  said  "  I  delight  to  do  Thy  will 
O  my  God;"  and  "  Thy  will  be  done"  is  the 
inscription  we  see  displayed  over  the  manger  at 
Bethlehem,  over  the  well  of  Samaria,  and  over 
all  the  strenuous  activities  of  His  obedience  no 
less  than  over  the  sorrow  in  the  Garden,  and 
the  sacrifice  on  the  Cross. 

Let  this  also  be  our  motto.  By  making  it 
our  prayer  we  mean  that  we  desire  to  be  "  up 
and  doing "  in  obedience  to  orders.  Our 
life  is  all  under  orders.  Because  God  is 
our  Father  to  perfection.  He  is  also  our  King 
to  perfection,  and  His  orders  are  therefore 
absolute.  Our  desire  for  ourselves  is,  that  we 
may  fall  into  no  mistake  about  them,  that  we 
may  clearly  know  what  they  are,  and  then,  that 
we  may  thoroughly  carry  them  out.  We  may 
not  always  "  know  the  reason  why," — this  is  not 
essential ;  the  thing  essential  to  know  is,  what 
we  have  to  do,  not  why  we  have  to  do  it.  The 
Infinite  Reason  makes  no  mistakes,  and  at 
every  pause  of  demur,  or  hint  of  enquiry,  the 
majestic  answer  is  "  what  I  do,  thou  knowest 
not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter."  Our 
eyes  therefore  are  on  God  in  Christ,  we  would 
wait  for  a  signal  from  the  centre  of  supreme 


THE  THIRD  PETITION.  1 47 

authority,  before  we  do  anything  which  is 
not  already  clear,  and  we  would  wait  with 
watchful  patience.  The  son  of  Antiochus  once 
said,  "Father,  when  will  the  battle  begin?" 
"  Dost  thou  fear,"  replied  the  king,  "  that  thou 
only  in  all  the  army  wilt  not  hear  the  trumpet  ?"' 
We  are  not  to  act  before  the  commander  gives 
the  word,  not  to  delay  to  act  after  he  has  given 
it,  not  to  be  anxious  when  we  have  to  wait  for  it. 
When  the  time  comes  for  action,  the  trumpet 
will  give  no  "  uncertain  sound  ;"  we  shall  know 
what  to  do, — then,  it  will  be  "  ours  to  do  or  die." 
When  the  steamer  BirkenJiead,  with  a  regiment 
of  soldiers  on  board,  struck  upon  a  rock  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  it  was  thought  from  the  moment 
of  the  first  rasp  and  shock  that  it  could  not  keep 
together  many  minutes,  and  orders  were  given 
to  fit  the  emergency.  The  roll  of  the  drum 
called  the  soldiers  to  arms  on  the  upper  deck. 
It  was  promptly  obeyed  by  all,  though  each  one 
knew  that  it  was  his  death  summons.  There 
they  stood,  drawn  up  as  in  battle-array,  looking 
on  while  boats  were  got  out,  first  for  the  women 
and  children,  next  for  the  other  passengers — no 
boats  left  for  them.  There  they  stood  firmly 
and  calmly,  waiting  a  watery  grave.  The  ship 
was  every  moment  going  down  and  down,  but 
there  each  man  stood  in  his  place  ;  the  women 
and  children  were  all  got  into  the  boats,  and 
pulled  off  in  safety,  but  on  that  solemn  deck  the 


T48  THE  THIRD  PETITION. 

soldiers  still  kept  their  ranks  motionless  and 
silent.  Then  down  went  the  ship,  and  down 
with  it  went  the  heroes,  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
firing  a  parting  volley,  and  then  sinking  beneath 
the  remorseless  waters;  type  of  spiritual  soldiers 
doing  their  king's  commands,  and  being  "  faith- 
ful unto  death."  So  may  we  look  to  this  Book, 
take  our  orders  from  the  infinite  perfection,  and 
say,  living  and  dying,  "  Thy  will  be  done ! " 
That  it  may  be  so,  we  would  say  to  the  Father 
what  once  Augustine  did,  "  Give  what  thou  com- 
mandest,  and  then  command  what  thou  wilt."* 
2.  "  Thy  will  be  done "  m  submission  tinder 
trials.  The  sorrows  that  are  in  the  world  through 
sins  are  used  by  our  Father  with  sovereign  mas- 
tery for  corrective,  or  preventive,  or  educational 
purposes  in  his  family.  Look  round  in  it. 
There  is  a  father  the  pride  of  whose  life  has 
been  blighted ;  there  is  a  mother,  whose  children, 
for  whose  life  she  has  offered  her  own  over  and 
over  again,  are  now  all  buried — buried  in  the 
grave,  or  buried  body  and  soul  in  business,  or 
buried  in  the  love  of  some  stranger.  There 
is  a  delicately  nurtured  being  w^ho  once  lived  in 
a  heaven  of  love  and  tender  praise  and  beautiful 
refinement,  but  who  now,  in  his  forlorn  old  age, 
had  survived  all  who  ever  loved  him  ;  life  has 
lost  its  sunny  prospects  and  its  cheery  stir,  and 
for  him  in  this  world  there  seems  to  be  no  future. 
*  "  Da  quod  jubes,  et  jube  quod  vis," 


THE  THIRD  PETITION.  1 49 

There  is  another  who  has  been  wealthy,  but  who 
now,  in  his  decHne  of  strength,  has  to  fight  hard 
for  bare  bread,  or  to  strain  his  weary  faculties  in 
an  attempt  to  find  some  way  out  of  a  deadlock 
of  difficulties.  There  is  a  watcher  bending  over 
some  dear  face  with  fear,  lest  in  a  moment  the 
flame  of  life  should  fade,  and  the  white  shadow 
of  the  grave  come  over  it.  There  is  a  thin  con- 
sumptive coughing  his  span  of  life  away.  It  is 
hard  at  times  for  any  one  of  these  to  say,  "  Thy 
will  be  done  ;  "  hard  to  say  it  when  the  body  is 
a  suffering  thing,  peril  to  touch,  and  pain  to  see  ; 
it  is  harder  still  to  say  it,  when  the  soul  itself, 
still  brimful  of  life,  quick  as  lightning,  and  im- 
patient of  any  arrest  of  its  activity  in  the  service 
of  God,  is  forced  to  feel  that  it  is  the  useless  and 
helpless  prisoner  of  the  sick  body.  "  His  use- 
lessness,"  as  he  called  it,  was  the  special  trial  of 
Archbishop  Whately.  When,  with  keen,  cool, 
hard  intellect  and  impetuous  energy  of  will,  yet 
with  total  exhaustion  of  body,  he  lay  in  his  last 
sickness — "  Have  you  ever  preached  from  the 
words,  '  Thy  will  be  done  .<• '  said  he  to  his 
chaplain  one  day,  "  How  do  you  explain  it  ?  " 
When  the  chaplain  replied,  "Just  so,''  said  he, 
with  choking  voice,  "  but  it  is  hard,  very  hard, 
sometimes,  to  say  it !  "  Every  son  of  God  has 
his  Gethsemane ;  his  place  for  the  cup  of  bitter- 
ness and  the  prayer  of  agony.  Although  there 
can   be   no    atoning   element   in   what   we   go 


150  THE  THIRD  PETITION, 

through,  and  our  cross  never  can  be  that  of 
sacrifice,  we  may  have  a  cross  in  the  very  pros- 
pect of  which  our  soul  is  "exceeding  sorrowful." 
Then  it  is  right  for  us  to  pray  as  he  did,  "  Father, 
if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me."  We 
may  in  this  case  kneel  where  he  knelt,  and  say 
what  he  said,  but  we  may  not  divide  his  words ; 
we  must  add  that  hard  word  ^'nevertheless,''  and 
say  in  prospect  of  the  unknown  trouble,  "  Thy 
will  be  done."  After  that  prayer  we  are  ready 
for  the  cross,  if  one  is  waiting  for  us,  or  able  to 
live  through  the  affliction  that  may  be  our  cross 
just  now.  By  the  help  of  the  Comforter,  the 
promises  that  shine  out  in  our  sorrows,  as  stars 
shine  out  in  the  night,  encourage  us  to  offer 
this  prayer ;  we  are  encouraged  to  offer  it  by 
the  memory  of  what  God  has  done  for  us. 
"  Do  you  know  this,  Master  Cameron  }  "  said 
an  executioner,  startling  the  old  Christian  in 
his  cell,  and  showing  something  in  a  basket. 
It  was  a  fair-haired  youthful  head,  just  stricken 
off.  "  I  know  it,  I  know  it.  My  son's — my 
own  dear  son's.  It  is  the  Lord  ;  good  is  the 
will  of  the  Lord,  who  cannot  wrong  me  nor 
mine,  but  has  made  goodness  and  mercy  follow 
us  all  our  days."  The  same  goodness  and 
mercy  have  followed  ours,  warranting  the  same 
trust  in  the  same  blessed  will.  It  is  the  will  of 
One  who  cannot  wrong  us,  the  will  of  our 
"  Father  in  Heaven."     "  '  God  is  Love,'  is  the 


THE  THIRD  PETITION.  15I 

motto  on  the  weather-cock  of  a  country  friend. 
We  have  seen  many  curious  vanes,  but  never 
one  that  struck  our  attention  so  much  as  this, 
*  God  is  Love.'  Our  friend  was  asked  if  he 
meant  to  imply  that  the  love  of  God  was  as 
fickle  as  the  wind .''  '  No,'  he  answered,  *  I 
mean  that  which  ever  way  the  wind  blows,  God 
is  Love ;  if  cold  from  the  north,  or  biting  from 
the  east,  still  God  is  Love,  as  much  as  when 
the  warm  south,  or  genial  west  wind  refreshes 
our  fields  and  flocks.'  Yes,  so  it  is  !  our  God 
is  always  Love.  We  saw  our  friend  the  other 
day,  when  he  had  lost  his  dearly  loved  wife,  but 
amidst  his  heartache  and  crushing  loss,  he  still 
said,  '  My  vane  teaches  me  the  truth ;  I  put 
over  it  in  my  prosperity  when  the  desire  of  my 
eyes  was  at  my  side — God  is  Love!  "  *  Can 
we  not  yet  trust  Him  enough  to  say  in  our 
cares  and  pains,  "  Thy  will  be  done  !  " 

3.  "Thy  will  be  done"  by  sur7^ender  to  Thy 
guidance.  Those  mysterious  travellers,  our 
souls,  have  paths  before  them  of  which  they 
know  nothing.  The  map  of  their  future  is  a 
secret  hid  away  amidst  the  glories  of  God. 
What  we  shall  want,  what  and  where  our 
dangers  will  be,  how  long  we  shall  be  on  the 
road,  and  at  what  part  of  it  we  shall  find 
heaven,  no  prophet  has  been  commissioned  to 
disclose.  We  need  that  the  Father's  will  should 
*  Rev.  C.  H.  vSpurgeon. 


152  THE  THIRD  PETITION. 

steer  and  guide  our  life,  and  that  for  all  the 
future  we  should  trust  Him  totally ;  yet  some- 
times we  hardly  let  ourselves  go,  or  let  those 
dear  as  ourselves  go,  out  from  our  seeing  or 
keeping.  We  try  to  make  out  some  glimmer- 
ing outline  of  things  to  come  ;  we  try  to  reserve 
some  power  of  choice  as  to  the  course,  or  as  to 
the  stations  of  our  pilgrimage.  We  are  like 
Joseph,  when  he  took  his  two  children  to  re- 
ceive a  blessing  from  his  father.  "  And  Joseph 
took  them  both,  Ephraim  in  his  right  hand 
toward  Israel's  left  hand,  and  Manasseh  in  his 
left  hand  toward  Israel's  right  hand,  and  brought 
them  near  to  him.  And  Israel  stretched  out 
his  right  hand  and  laid  it  on  Ephraim's  head, 
who  was  the  younger,  and  his  left  hand  upon 
Manasseh's  head,  guiding  his  hands  wittingly, 
for  Manasseh  was  the  first-born."  *  God  was 
the  arbiter  of  the  hands.  His  will  moved  in 
the  movement  of  the  blind  old  man.  It  was  of 
no  use  then,  it  is  of  no  use  now,  trying  to  guide 
the  Guide.  Let  Him  lead  ;  let  us  follow.  We 
find,  for  the  most  part,  that  when  we  have  been 
suffered  to  have  our  way,  rather  than  His  way 
in  scheming  for  the  future,  we  have  worked  out 
some  disaster,  and  that  when  our  burning 
prayers  to  be  led  in  some  particular  direction 
pointed  out  by  ourselves,  have  been  refused, 
that  refusal  has  proved  itself  to  be  in  the  long 
*  Genesis  xlviii.  13,  14. 


THE  THIRD  PETITION.  I  5  3 

run,  an  act  of  wisest  mercy  calling  for  loudest 
praise. 

Monica  prayed  that  the  Lord  would  bring 
her  dear  son  Augustine  to  the  knowledge  of 
himself ;  she  also  prayed  that  He  would  keep 
him  from  voyaging,  as  he  had  purposed 
to  do,  from  Africa  to  Italy.  After  all  he 
went  to  Italy,  and  the  loving  suppliant 
was  in  trouble  because  her  prayers  were  not 
heard.  Yet,  being  at  Milan,  going  to  hear 
Ambrose  preach,  and  thinking  only  to  be 
charmed  by  the  magic  of  his  eloquence,  he 
found  "  the  pearl  of  great  price,"  and  began 
his  great  life  of  Christian  service, — with  re- 
ference to  which  fact  he  has  said,  "  Thou  O 
good  God,  deep  in  counsel,  and  hearing  the 
substance  of  my  mother's  desires,  didst  not 
regard  what  she  tJien  asked,  that  in  me  Thou 
mightest  do  that  which  she  ever  asked."  *  This 
clause  of  the  Lord's  prayer,  as  applied  to  guid- 
ance in  all  our  future,  amounts  to  saying,  as 
to  time  or  place,  health  or  sickness,  life  or 
death,  and  all  possibilities.  "Lord,  what  Thou 
wilt,  where  Thou  wilt,  when  Thou  wilt."t 

4.  **  Thy  will  be  done,"  in  tJie  use  of  vieans  for 
thy  reign  to  come. 

Amidst  the  solemn  glories  of  a  famous  French 
Cathedral,  stands  a  statue  that  represents  a  man 
speaking.  One  hand  grasps  a  crucifix,  the 
*  Confess.  Lib.  v.  8.  t  Baxter's  last  words. 


154  THE  TPIIRD  PETITION. 

other  is  lifted  as  if  with  the  life  and  sway  of 
passionate  oratory;  and  below  his  feet,  sculptured 
on  the  massive  pedestal,  are  the  words,  "  Thy 
will  be  done."  That  stands  for  Peter  the  Her- 
mit, the  fire  of  whose  appeals  kindled  the  first 
crusade.  "  Never,  perhaps,"  says  Dean  Milman, 
"  did  single  speech  of  man  work  such  extra- 
ordinary results.  He  made  the  people  feel 
that  to  get  the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the 
Saracens,  was  the  will  of  God,  and  before  the 
council  closed,  the  ©ne  loud  cry  from  it  broke 
forth,  'it  is  the  will  of  God,  it  is  the  will  of  God  !'" 
We  want  the  crusader's  enthusiasm,  without  the 
crusader's  mistakes.  We  want  deep  conviction 
alive  with  Pentecostal  flame,  when  will  men 
rush  with  equal  ardour  to  fight  the  true  battles 
of  the  true  cross  ! 

Sometimes  it  is  His  will  that  to  help  on  this 
cause,  you  should  part  with  what  you  would  nat- 
urally like  to  keep.  Sometimes  that  your  own 
selves  should  go  into  the  battlefield  of  Christian 
missions,  when  you  would  naturally  like  to 
stay  at  home*;  sometimes  that  you  should  part 
with  son  or  daughter  ordained  by  Him  for  such 
high  service.  Perhaps  at  this  very  moment,  and 
in  reference  to  one  of  these  very  intimations 
of  the  divine  will,  you  are  saying,  "  Thy  will  be 
done,''  but  in  what  sense  ?  Is  it  true  for  instance 
that  your  child  is  going,  and  that  you  are  say- 
ing this    in  the  mere  spirit   of  resignation.     It 


THE  THIRD  PETITION.  I  5  5 

should  rather  be  in  the  spirit  of  obedience.  It 
should  mean  on  your  part,  not  a  suffering,  but 
a  doing.  The  beautiful  "  living  sacrifice,"  is 
about  to  be  made  ;  honestly,  heartily,  take  your 
part  in  it.  You  have  held  back  your  consent 
till  now,  but  now  you  give  up  and  say,  "  Thy 
will  be  done !"  Do  it,  do  it,  brother,  sister,  will 
you  not .''  Do  it  yourself,  not  content  to  have  it 
done  for  you  ! 


VII. 

THE   FOURTH    PETITION. 

"  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread." — Matt.  vi.  il.  "  Give 
us  day  by  day  our  daily  bread." — Luke  xi.  3.  Authorised  and 
Revised  Fei'sions. 

When  our  minds  are  saturated  with  the  spirit 
of  the  foregoing  words — when  our  hearts  are  full 
of  the  life  that  says,  "  Our  Father  which  art  in 
heaven,  Hallowed  be  Thy  name,  Thy  kingdom 
come,  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth,  as  it  is  in 
heaven," — when  we  have  the  thorough  under- 
standing that  our  desires  are  to  be  fenced  within 
these  holy  limits, — and  that  what  we  ask  on  our 
own  account  is  to  be  ruled  by  the  law  of  sub- 
ordination thus  declared,  then  we  begin  to  pray 
for  ourselves,  and  this  is  our  first  petition — 
"  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread." 

In  making  out  its  true  meaning,  we  propose 
to  pause  at  each  leading  word  or  phrase  in  it, 
giving  emphasis  to  each,  successively. 

I,  Weputemphasisonthephrase  "Daily Bread." 

"Daily."    The  original  word,  it  is  well-known, 

is  nowhere  else  found,  either  in  sacred  or  classical 

literature.     It  is  conjectured  that  Matthew  and 

Luke  coined  it,  as  a  translation  of  the  Aramaic 


THE  FOURTH  PETITION.  I  57 

phrase  used  by  our  Lord.  More  than  thirty 
different  explanations  of  it  have  been  suggested, 
and  the  revisers  make  no  attempt  to  settle  its 
derivation  or  meaning.  As,  however,  gram- 
marians have  found  much  to  say  for  the  render- 
ing, ''  our  bread  for  the  coming  day,"  they 
have,  in  both  evangelists,  inserted  this  in  the 
margin,  but  have  retained  in  the  text,  the  word 
"  daily," — the  translation  to  which  we  have  been 
accustomed.  The  word  in  the  Greek  Testament, 
whatever  may  have  been  its  history,  appears  to 
be  a  compound  of  a  noun  meaning  "substance," 
with  the  preposition.*  As  applied  to  bread,  it 
seems  to  mean,  that  which  is  proper  or  sufficient 
for  supporting  life  by  being  changed  into  the 
substance  of  our  bodies.  It  seems  to  stand  for 
good  and  nourishing  food.  Though  it  may  be 
impossible  to  give  it  a  literal  translation,  our 
conclusion  is,  that  the  general  spirit  and  mean- 
ing of  the  term  daily  bread  must  be  accepted 
as  correct. 

"Bread."  The  word  is  most  simple,  yet 
most  comprehensive.  It  includes,  we  think, 
several  things.     In  the  statement  of  its  mean- 

*  According  to  this,  iirioiicnov  is  compounded  of  iin  and 
ovala,  substance,  or  subsistence.  An  instance  of  this  word 
occurs  in  Luke  xv.  12,  rb  e-m^dWou  fxepos  T-qs  ovaias.  Tho- 
luck  has  given  a  long,  full  and  very  fair  account  of  the 
reasons  offered  for  the  rendering  in  the  margin  and 
that  adopted  in  our  English  text,  but  sums  up  in  favour 
of  the  latter, 


158  THE  FOURTH  PETITION. 

ing,  we  must  begin  at  the  lowest  point,  and 
ascend. 

I.  "Bread"  means  that  which  is  needful  to 
support  the  life  of  the  body.  This,  surely,  is  not 
restrictively  the  food  that  comes  from  corn,  but 
the  food  that  our  bodies  live  upon,  whatever 
that  may  be.  The  Arab  who  may  live  upon 
dates  gathered  from  the  tree ;  the  Indian,  who 
may  live  upon  food  got  by  gun  or  net,  or 
spear  ;  the  man  whose  food  grows  in  the  field  ; 
the  man  who  earns  it  by  toiling  brain  or  by 
skilful  fingers — every  man,  however  he  gets  his 
living,  is  invited  to  offer  this  prayer,  and  in 
praying  for  "  bread  "  prays  for  the  usual  sup- 
ports of  material  existence. 

Some  interpreters  understand  the  petition  as 
having  reference  only  to  the  bread  of  the  soul. 
Their  theory  is,  that  the  wants  of  the  body  are 
beneath  the  notice  of  God,  and  unworthy  of  a 
place  in  the  train  of  supplications  taught  by 
Christ.  They  are  afraid  or  ashamed  to  "trouble 
the  Master  "  about  such  a  trifle !  The  earlier 
divines  generally  clung  to  a  spiritual  interpreta- 
tion, and  even  Luther  tells  us  that  this  is  a  re- 
quest to  be  fed  by  the  Bread  of  Heaven.  But 
this  cannot  be  the  only  idea.  We  have  no  proof 
that  the  half  of  man's  nature,  though  it  be  the 
lower  half,  is  disowned  by  Him  who  made  it. 
It  is  no  "counsel  of  perfection,"  whatever  as- 
cetics teach,  that  our  souls  are   to   starve  or 


THE  FOURTH  PETITION.  I  59 

trample  out  the  instincts  of  our  bodies.  There 
was  no  neglect  of  the  body  in  Paradise.  No 
such  neglect  is  taught  by  the  theology  of  Nature 
or  by  the  standing  lessons  of  "  seed  time  and 
harvest."  He  who  made  the  body,  will  not 
scorn  to  feed  it.  He,  who,  though  Lord  of  all, 
stooped  under  the  lowly  lintel  of  this,  our 
"  cottage  of  clay,"  and  dwelt  in  a  body  like  our 
own  for  more  than  thirty  years  ;  He  who  gave 
bread  to  the  multitudes  by  the  hand  of  miracle  ; 
He  who  pronounced  a  blessing  on  bread  before 
taking  it  with  His  disciples ;  He  who  in  many 
ways  in  His  human  teachings,  sanctified  the 
mystery  of  food  ;  He  who  has  taught  each  be- 
liever that  His  body  is  a  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  He  who  guards  it  in  the  darkling  decay 
of  the  grave,  so  that  no  mystic  atom,  essential  to 
its  continuous  identity  shall  be  lost  and  missing 
on  the  resurrection  day — stoops  to  no  degrada- 
tion, and  speaks  in  no  way  unlike  Himself,  by 
teaching  us  to  pray  for  it,  and  we,  the  children 
of  God,  feel  that  any  interpretation  is  quite 
unnatural  as  well  as  unscriptural  that  would 
deprive  us  of  the  great  privilege  of  casting  our 
bodily  wants  in  this  simple  prayer,  upon  our 
Heavenly  Father. 

2.  The  bread  we  pray  for  includes  that  which 
is  needful  to  support  all  our  life  in  this  world. 
This  is  manifold  more  than  the  life  of  the  body. 
Our  life  is  compound,  made  of  earth  and  heaven, 


l6o  THE  FOURTH  PETITION. 

dust  from  the  ground,  and  breath  from  Deity.  It 
is  even  more  than  this,  for  it  must  mean  the  life 
suitable  to  the  particular  station  we  have  to  fill. 
Daily  bread  in  the  sense  of  needful  support  to 
the  life  which  fills  a  large  sphere,  daily  bread  for 
the  life  on  which  many  other  lives  depends,  daily 
bread  for  the  life  that  needs  property  and  social 
influence  to  fulfil  the  functions  of  its  place,  is 
totally  different  from  that  which  is  wanted  to  feed 
the  life  of  a  mere  human  unit,  just  alive.  Prince 
and  peasant,  parent  and  child,  persons  of  every 
estate,  with  all  varieties  of  claims  upon  them, 
little  or  great,  few  or  many,  are  all  alike  to  ask 
the  Father  in  heaven  for  daily  bread,  but  bread 
for  the  Queen  does  not  mean  merely  a  loaf  a 
day.  Bread  for  the  poor  old  mother  by  the 
cottage  fire  does  not  mean  supplies  enough  to 
meet  the  demands  of  empire.  The  bread  we 
are  to  ask  for,  is  support  for  our  differing  lives 
of  body,  of  mind,  of  work,  of  trial,  of  office,  of 
station  and  responsibility. 

3.  Prayer  for  "  daily  bread "  is  prayer  that 
we  may  have  enough.  The  word  "  bread  "  points 
to  what  is  simple  and  moderate.  We  have  no 
encouragement  to  say  give  us  this  day  a  banquet. 
There  is  nothing  to  make  us  think  that  the  means 
of  faring  sumptuously  every  day  are  to  be  had  for 
asking.  We  are  only  to  ask  for  supplies  that 
shall  meet  the  average,  inevitable  demands  of 
life  and  station  ;  the  spirit  of  this  is  that  of 
Agur's  prayer,  "  feed  me  with  food  convenient 


Till-:  FOURTH   PETITION.  l6r 

for  me  ;  "  but  while  the  words  forbid  extravag- 
ance they  imply  a  request  for  sufficiency,  and  in 
making  them  our  own  we  ask  for  enough  to  keep 
life  in  healthy,  happy,  growing  power. 

If  we  rebel  against  God's  plan  of  our  life ;  if 
our  hearts  clamour  for  more  than  enough  of 
life's  good  things  ;  if  we  insist  on  having  what- 
ever hits  our  fancy,  feeds  our  pride  or  delights 
our  senses,  we  are  on  dangerous  ground.  The 
sovereign  may  indeed  hear  the  prayer  of  discon- 
tent, but  in  that  case  the  answer  to  a  prayer  may 
be  but  the  infliction  of  a  curse.  When  his 
typical  people  were  passing  through  the  desert, 
though  he  gave  them  daily  bread,  they  passion- 
ately longed  for  something  more.  "  He  had 
rained  down  manna  upon  them  to  eat,  and  had 
given  them  of  the  corn  of  heaven.  Man  did  eat 
angels'  food  :  he  sent  them  meat  to  the  full.''* 
But  they  pined  for  variety ;  wept,  and  said, 
"who  shall  give  us  flesh  to  eat?"  Then  the 
Royal  message  to  their  leader  was — "  Say  thou 
unto  the  people,  sanctify  yourselves  against  to- 
morrow, and  ye  shall  eat  flesh :  for  ye  have 
wept  in  the  ears  of  the  Lord,  saying  who  shall 
give  us  flesh  to  eat  .-•  for  it  was  well  with  us  in 
Egypt :  therefore  the  Lord  will  give  you  flesh, 
and  ye  shall  eat.  Ye  shall  not  eat  one  day,  nor 
two  days,  nor  five  days,  neither  ten  days,  nor 
twenty  days,"  but  even  for  a  whole  month  ? 
*  Psalm  Ixviii.  24,  25. 
L 


l62  THE  FOURTH  PETITION. 

Our  thoughts  flash  back  into  that  ancient 
scene,  and  in  a  moment,  we  seem  to  be  hving 
in  it.  It  is  a  still  day  in  the  burning  depth  of 
the  wilderness  ;  no  shadow  flits  across  the  glare  ; 
no  sound,  near  or  far,  strikes  upon  the  velvet 
carpet  of  the  sand.  All  at  once,  man  after  man 
starts  up  and  listens.  A  noise  like  a  loud 
whispering  hangs  in  the  air  ;  it  comes  nearer, 
like  wind  in  trees,  nearer  and  nearer  till  it 
sounds  like  the  roar  and  hiss  of  a  storm  in  the 
sails  of  a  ship  at  sea.  The  sunshine  changes 
into  sudden  darkness  ;  you  look  up  ;  and  see 
birds,  and  more  birds,  gathering  overhead,  till 
they  are  wedged  into  a  black,  dense  quivering 
cloud ;  they  drop  down  on  low,  weary  wing, 
and  fall  in  stacks  all  round  the  camp ;  the 
people  run  in  a  rage  of  delight  to  snatch  and 
rend  them  ;  but  not  being  prepared  for  so 
sudden  a  change  of  regimen,  and  not  being 
temperate,  the  new  food  turns  into  poison,  and 
they  take  into  the  system,  not  life  but  death. 
"  So  the  Lord  smote  the  people  with  a  very  great 
plague,  and  he  called  the  name  of  that  place  the 
graves  of  lust,  because  there  they  buried  the 
people  that  lusted."  *  "  Now,"  says  our  inspired 
expositor  of  this  episode,  "  these  things  happened 
unto  them  by  way  of  example ;  and  they  were 
written  for  our  admonition,  upon  whom  the  ends 
of  the  ages  are  come."f 

*  Numbers  xi.  33,  34.  t  i  Cor.  x.  11. 


THE  FOURTH  PETITION.  I  6 


O 


11.  We  would  now  separate  the  phrase  "  Give 
us,"  that  we  may  think  over  its  special  meaning. 

I.  This  phrase  implies  acknozuledginent  of 
dependence.  It  amounts  to  this,  Father,  give  ns 
our  daily  bread,  or  we  shall  never  have  it.  Our 
personal  and  unceasing  dependence  on  Him  for 
the  supports  of  mere  existence  is  a  fact  that  few 
would  formally  question,  but  which,  perhaps, 
few  adequately  feel.  We  seem  to  need  the 
rack  of  material  circumstance  to  work  a  present, 
pending,  urgent  sense  of  it.  When  our  lips 
confess  it,  sometimes  our  souls  are  silent ;  it  is 
more  like  a  dead  word  in  a  book,  than  a  word 
alive  within  us.  "  Give  us  this  day  our  daily 
bread,"  is  a  prayer  we  are  ready  to  say,  fit  for 
the  helpless  sufferer  who  has  just  broken  into 
his  last  shilling,  but  is  it  natural  to  the  man 
whose  "barns  are  filled  with  plenty,"  to  the 
prosperous  merchant  who  has  just  contracted  to 
furnish  a  fleet  with  stores,  or  to  the  lord  of  large 
estates  }  It  might  have  fitted  the  lips  of  David 
in  the  day  when,  starving,  he  asked  the  priest 
for  a  fragment  of  the  shew-bread  ;  but  would  it 
have  been  suitable  to  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  >. 
Would  it  have  been  the  natural  language  of 
Job,  in  the  days  of  health,  wealth,  and  happy 
family  festival .-'  Would  it  have  been  proper  for 
Joseph  when  opening  the  granaries  in  which 
he  had  stored  the  produce  of  seven  plenteous 
years }     Yes,  verily,  for  all  alike  live  on  gifts. 


164  THE  FOURTH  PETITION. 

and  in  "  the  fulness  of  sufficiency  "  one  fire,  one 
blight,  one  hurricane,  one  shipwreck,  one  rash 
venture,  one  turn  in  the  tide  of  affairs,  the  work  of 
one  idiotic  head,  or  of  one  random  hand,  may  in 
a  week  bring  the  highest  to  the  level  of  the  low- 
est. In  our  grand  impatience  of  common  places, 
we  are  tempted  to  slight  these  simple  truths, 
and  to  forget  them  because  we  think  they  are 
too  obvious  to  be  forgotten.  Let  us  not  be  too 
proud  to  take  them  in  with  new  and  keen  realiza- 
tion, remembering  not  only  our  equal  depen- 
dence, but  who  it  is  on  whom  we  depend.  He 
who  of  old  sent  the  manna  down  :  He  who  sent 
the  ravens  with  food  for  Elijah,  He  who  guided 
the  quivering  shoal  of  fishes  like  living,  leaping, 
lighted  gold  and  silver,  straight  into  Peter's  net  ; 
is  still  the  sovereign  Lord  of  mine  and  moun- 
tain, of  field  /and  forest,  of  sea  and  sand.  So 
thought  the  Puritan  Fathers  of  America,  who 
while  eking  out  their  scanty  supplies  of  food 
in  their  first  years  with  the  shell-fish  of  the  shore, 
thanked  the  Lord,  with  beautiful  reverence,  for 
showing  them  "the  treasures  hid  in  the  sand." 
So  think  we,  while  we  offer  this  prayer  in  spirit 
and  truth. 

2.  We  say  to  our  Father,  "  give  us  "  this  bless- 
ing, because  we  know  that  it  is  His  nature  to 
give,  and  that  ^ivin^'-  is  His  delight.  If  we  think 
of  Him  as  of  one  who  gives,  but  who  would 
rather  not  give  ;  who  gives  with  grudging,  and 


THE  FOURTH  PETITION.  165 

who  counts  out  with  cold,  slow,  reluctant  fingers 
what  he  gives  ;  who  gives  only  when  we  pas- 
sionately beg  and  pray,  and  who  likes  to  say 
No  to  us, — no  words  can  measure  the  wrong  we 
do  to  Him  or  to  ourselves.  The  joy  of  possess- 
ing is  in  the  power  of  giving,  and  this  is  the  joy 
of  the  Lord.  Unless  in  some  work  of  judgment 
— "  His  strange  work,"  we  never  see  God,  but 
as  we  see  Him  giving.  For  ever  working  to 
propel  the  sleepless  forces  that  beat  and  throb 
through  nature — the  soft  drops,  the  quickening 
airs,  the  searching  rays,  that  make  the  swelling 
leaf,  the  filling  ear,  the  reddening  fruit,  we  see 
Him  for  ever  giving  exquisitely,  variously  and 
with  magnificent  munificence,  "seed  to  the 
sower  and  bread  to  the  eater." 

In  connection  with  gifts  for  the  support  of 
existence,  think  of  His  gifts  for  its  enjoyment. 
James  Hamilton  said,  if  this  world  had  been 
meant  as  a  place  for  the  bare  physical  life  of  man 
during  his  allotted  time,  "  a  world  less  beautiful 
would  have  served  the  purpose.  ...  A  big,  round 
island,  half  of  it  arable,  and  half  of  it  pasture, 
with  a  clump  of  trees  in  one  corner,  and  a 
magazine  of  fuel  in  another,  might  have  held 
and  fed  ten  millions  of  people ;  and  a  hundred 
islands,  all  made  on  the  same  pattern,  big  and 
round,  might  have  held  and  fed  all  the  popula- 
tions of  the  globe.  There  was  no  need  for  the 
carpet    of  verdure  or  the  ceiling  of  blue ;  no 


I  66  THE  FOURTH  TETITION. 

need  for  the  mountains,  and  cataracts  and  for- 
ests ;  no  need  for  the  rainbow,  no  need  for  the 
flower." 

Look  at  the  gift  of  flowers  only.  There  are 
in  this  world,  wildernesses  of  beauty,  where  you 
see  rich  mists  of  flowers,  vast  sweeps  and 
stretches  of  flowers,  flowers  billowing  round  the 
tree  stems,  rippling  rivers  of  flowers,  tossing 
cataracts  of  flowers,  prairies,  where  you  may 
travel  to-day,  to-morrow  and  the  day  after, 
still  through  nothing  but  flowers.  Wherever 
nature  can  get  air  and  space  enough,  even  in 
our  duller  landscapes,  we  may  see  something 
like  it.  Graces  of  shape  and  glorious  fires  of 
colour  are  wherever  they  can  be,  and  even  a 
wreath  of  snow  is  a  bank  of  flowers,  with  tiny 
stars  of  loveliness  full  of  wonders.  What  a 
noble,  generous,  resplendent  King  our  Father  is! 
Everywhere,  in  illuminated  letters,  we  read  the 
motto  of  His  house,  "Enough  and  to  spare." 
Never  let  us  make  our  requests  to  Him,  as  if 
taking  a  liberty  or  expecting  a  denial,  for  He 
delights  to  give. 

3.  We  mean  give  us  this  for  Thou  art  our 
Father.  We  see  Him  delighting  to  give  to 
countless  creatures  that  have  not  His  Spirit  in 
them,  and  of  whom  He  is  not  Father.  Give  us 
our  bread.  Why,  He  gives  the  birds  tJieirs  !  He 
puts  His  living  law  and  His  subtle  skill  within 
them  ;  He  infuses  into  them  the  life  that,  while 


THE  FOURTH   PETITION.  I  67 

in  happy  movement,  singing  happy  songs,  is  in 
perpetual  happy  quest  for  the  food  which  He 
gives  them  through  stream  and  tree  and  air,  and 
what  He  gives,  they  gather.  It  seems  that 
sparrows,  above  all  the  other  birds,  are  the 
selected  types  to  teach  lessons  of  His  providence 
— the  little,  saucy,  dingy  London  sparrows,  chirp- 
ing close  about  us,  not  scared  by  our  stirs  nor 
stifled  by  our  smoke,  arc  our  Saviour's  messengers 
reminding  us  of  His  words,  that  not  even  one  of 
them  is  forgotten  before  God,  and  that  we  "  are 
of  more  value  than  many  sparrows."  Shall  He 
clothe  His  lilies  and  forget  His  saints,  feed  His 
sparrows  and  starve  His  children  .-'  You  know 
a  father's  feelings.  Even  you  "who  are  evil"  do 
not  think  that  what  is  needful  for  the  earthly  life 
of  your  child  is  too  small  a  thing  for  you  to  care 
about,  and  can  you  dream  that  God  in  heaven 
does  not  care  if  His  children  are  cold  and  hungry.^ 
Doubt  of  that,  is  doubt  that  He  is  your  Father. 
4.  We  mean  "Give  us"  our  daily  bread  through 
a  blessing  on  our  own  use  of  rigJit  means.  One 
evening,  we  are  told,  Mahomet  was  conversing 
with  his  followers,  and  overheard  one  of  them 
say,  "  I  will  loose  my  camel,  and  trust ; "  on 
which  he  said,  "  Friend,  tie  thy  camel,  and  trust." 
Do  whatever  is  yours  to  do,  then  trust.  Work 
and  trust,  watch  and  pray.  "  If  a  man  will  not 
work,  neither  shall  he  eat,"  is  a  law  of  the  king- 
dom.    Work  done,  all  is  done  that  man  need 


I  68  THE  FOURTH   PETITION. 

care  about,  God  will  care  for  the  rest.     In  refer- 
ence to  daily  bread,  the  faith  that  is  without 
care  is  expressed  in   unwearied  activity,  as   a 
dutiful  fulfilment  of  the  little  as  well  as  the  great 
obligations  of  life  and  time.     "  The  man  who 
thinks  Providence  exists  simply  to  make  up  his 
lack  of  service,  despises  Providence."*     In  ordi- 
nary circumstances,  God  gives  in  ordinary  ways, 
and  this  prayer,  translated    into  the  language 
of  practical  life,  mainly  means — "  Father,  give 
us  work  to  do,  and  strength  to  do  it."    The  zvork 
must  be  His  gift,  as  well  as  the  bread  which  it 
brings.     That  work  v/hich  God  does  not  give, 
and  which  is  therefore  without  the  sanction  of 
His  holiness  or  the  blessing  of  His  love ;  Avork 
not  in  harmony  with  the  three  first  petitions  of 
this  model,  work  done  in  the  spirit  of  the  gambler, 
work  that  implies  any  form  of  social  injustice, 
work  of  those  who   "  make  haste  to  be  rich ; " 
work  that  makes  capital   out  of  social    sin    of 
others,  or  that  panders  to  destructive  passions — 
for  instance,   the  opium  traffic  and  the  like — 
work  of  men  who  "  fish  foul  bread  out  of  the 
standing  pools  and  the  slimiest  ooze  of  human 
depravity,"  who  dip  their  daily  morsel  in  that 
which  is  the  poison  of  human  hearts,  who  make 
a  profit  out  of  lost  souls,  and  who  bequeath  to 
their  children  the  gains  of  unrighteousness, — 
work  of  that  kind,  whatever  its  connection  and 
*  Fairbairn. 


THE  FOURTH   PETITION.  I  69 

whatever  its  degree,  has  no  prosperity  from 
heaven,  and  the  bread  that  comes  of  it  is  not 
God's  gift.  In  the  spirit  of  this  prayer  we  ask 
Him  to  give  us  the  means  of  supporting  life 
lawfully  and  honourably,  and  to  give  us  working 
faculties.  If  we  live  by  the  skill  of  our  fingers, 
we  ask  Him  to  give  us  this  skill ;  if  by  the  sight 
of  our  eyes,  to  let  no  curtain  of  darkness  fall 
over  them  ;  if  by  strength  of  limbs,  to  let  no  evil 
strike  that  strength;  if  our  minds  have  to  work, 
that  our  minds  may  be  kept  from  weakness  or 
eclipse,  that  so,  giving  us  these,  He  may  give  us 
our  daily  bread. 

5.  Another  thought  under  this  language  is, 
"  Our  Father,  when  common  means  are  not 
within  our  power.  *  Give  us  '  our  daily  bread,  by 
means  of  tJiine  ownr  When  every  door  is  shut, 
every  road  blocked  up,  and  we  are  at  a  loss, 
come  to  our  help  by  the  ordinations  of  thy  mys- 
terious providence.  We  see  with  God,  no  waste 
of  power,  no  needless  profusion  of  contrivance  ; 
miracles  are  not  sights  for  every  day,  but  when 
all  the  dutiful  and  necessary  things  that  we  know 
of  have  been  done  on  our  own  part,  we  may  say^ 
"  it  is  time  for  thee,  O  Lord,  to  work."  Power- 
less to  stir  another  step,  although  in  the  way  of 
his  appointment,  a  Voice  will  say  "  stand  still, 
and  see  the  Salvation  of  the  Lord."  **  He 
reserves  His  hand,"  says  a  Puritan  sage,  "  for  a 
dead-lift "     The  stones  of  our  fathers'  lives  are 


I  JO  THE  FOURTH   TETITION. 

rich  with  proofs  of  this.  Nathaniel  Lawrence, 
ejected  from  the  living  of  Baschurch  in  1662,  sat 
one  day  under  a  hedgerow,  thinking  of  his  hun- 
gry family.  What  suddenly  made  his  eye  flash 
and  his  foot  spring  .''  The  sight  of  a  shilling  in 
the  ditch,  seeming  to  him,  so  he  said,  to  have 
dropped  straight  out  of  heaven. 

Oliver  Hey  wood,  ejected  from  Coley  Vicar- 
age by  the  act  of  uniformity,  lived  on  a  little 
stock  of  savings,  until  one  day,  he  and  his 
children  were  at  starvation  point,  and  with  no 
earthly  prospect  of  another  meal.  They  sang 
at  family  prayer — 

"  When  cruse  and  barrel  both  are  dry 
We  still  will  trust  the  Lord  most  High." 

With  empty  purse  and  empty  basket,  their 
faithful  old  servant  then  set  out  from  the  house, 
and  wandered  through  the  streets  of  Halifax, 
thinking  of  the  famishing  children  whom  she 
loved  like  her  own  life,  and  wondering  how 
God  would  give  them  this  day  their  daily 
bread.  Returning  home,  one  of  the  tradespeople 
of  the  place,  standing  at  his  door,  knew  her, 
called  her  in,  and  told  her  that  he  was  just 
casting  about  for  a  messenger  to  take  a  re- 
mittance of  five  guineas  just  sent  him  from 
Manchester  from  the  master.  On  her  arrival 
home  with  money  and  food,  it  looked  like  a 
miracle,  and  the  father  said,  when  they  met  at 
evening  prayer — "  The  Lord  hath  not  forgotten 


THE  FOURTH  PETITION.  171 

to  be  gracious.  His  word  is  true  from  the  be- 
ginning. "  The  young  Hon  may  lack  and  suffer 
hunger,  but  they  that  trust  the  Lord  shall  not 
lack  any  good  thing."  * 

III.  We  would  next  place  emphasis  on  the 
word  "  Our,"  in  this  connection.  We  only  ask 
for  07ir  bread,  not  for  the  bread  belonging  to 
others.  One  man  is  not  to  have  more  than  his 
share,  or  to  live  on  that  which  ought  to  support 
another  man's  life.  A  workman,  high  or  low, 
lives  on  bread  not  his  own,  when  he  takes  a  fair 
day's  wages  without  a  fair  day's  work.  A  master 
takes  bread  not  his  own,  when  he  takes  a  fair 
day's  work  without  a  fair  day's  wages.  It  is, 
then,  sin  of  any  man  who,  while  below  the 
horizon  of  solvency,  carries  on  trade  by  false 
shows  and  fictitious  values  ;  who  wears  another 
man's  coat,  drives  another  man's  carriage,  lives 
in  another  man's  house,  calling  what  he  thus 
appropriates  his  own.  "  We  are  to  ask  for  our 
oiun  bread,  and  we  are  not  allowed  to  ask 
the  bread  of  others — we  must  not  covet  our 
neighbour's  goods,  but  must  be  content  with 
what  God  gives  us  in  the  way  of  honest  industry, 
or  by  the  kindness  of  our  friends."  f 

IV.  We  would  next  dwell  on  the  power  of  the 
phrase  "This  day." 

*  Dr  Fawcett's  "  Life  of  Heywood." 
t  Dr  John  Brown's  "  Discourses  and  Sayings  of  our 
Lord,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  246. 


172  THE  FOURTH  PETITION. 

Matthew  Henry,  talking  in  his  own  quaint, 
racy,  simple  style,  like  an  old  father  to  the 
children  round  his  chair,  says,  "  The  Lord's 
prayer  is  a  letter  sent  from  earth  to  heaven. 
Here,  in  the  inscription  of  the  letter,  is  the 
name  of  the  Person  to  whom  it  is  directed^ 
'Our  Father;'  the  place  ivhere,  "which  art  in 
heaven."  The  contents  of  it  in  several  errands 
of  request.  The  seal  'Amen,'  and  if  you  will, 
the  date,  '  this  day.'  " 

The  distinct  instruction  of  our  Lord  in  the 
first  announcement  of  this  prayer,  that  we  are 
to  use  the  words  "  this  day,"  goes  far  to  prove 
that  the  marginal  rendering  of  another  term  in 
the  same  verse,  is  wrong.*  The  original  word 
in  question,  and  which  is  represented  in  our 
English  New  Testament  by  the  word  "  daily,'' 
may,  indeed,  be  possibly  traced  to  a  root  which 
would  admit  of  being  represented  under  the 
phrase  "  bread  of  to-morrow,"  as  in  the  margin. 
This  is  uncertain,  for  critics  are  divided  in 
opinion.  The  rule  in  the  words  "  this  day " 
is  a  certainty,  and  we  never  allow  a  certainty 
to  be  ruled  by  an  ^//certainty.  The  request, 
"  Give  us  this  day  the  bread  of  to-morrow,'' 
would  be  scarcely  intelligible,  and  to  adopt  it 
without  necessity,  would  be,  without  necessity 
to  turn  a  plain  thing  into  a  puzzle.  We  cannot 
admit  a  rendering  that  would  contradict  or 
"  Our  bread  for  the  comintr  day." 


THE  FOURTH  PETITION.  I  73 

nullify  the  power  of  the  phrase  "  this  day,"  as 
reported  by  Matthew,  or  the  extension  of  the 
same  petition  in  the  report  by  Luke,  in  which 
we  are  taught  to  ask  for  supplies  one  day  at  a 
time — that  is,  "  day  by  day." 

The  Lord  of  Life  would  not  indeed  have  us 
live  only  in  the  present,  and  have  no  readiness 
for  the  future.  The  whole  tendency  of  His  grace 
is  to  secure  that  readiness.  But  while  under  the 
law  of  the  prayer,  "  thy  will  be  done,"  we  lay 
our  plans  for  to-morrow,  we  are  not  to  be  dis- 
tracted by  the  fear  of  to-morrow.  This  is  the 
dread  spectre  which  the  Master's  language  is  to 
lay,  the  wearing  care  which  He  seeks  to  tran- 
quillize. In  the  discourse  following  the  first 
publication  of  the  sacred  prayer,  He  says,  "  Take 
no  thought  for  your  life,  what  ye  shall  eat, 
neither  for  your  body,  what  ye  shall  put  on,  is 
not  the  life  more  than  meat,  and  the  body  than 
raiment .''''  In  this  tender  strain  He  goes  on  to 
the  close,  when  He  says,  "  Take  therefore  no 
thought  for  the  morrow  ;  for  the  morrow  shall 
take  thought  for  the  things  of  itself  Sufficient 
unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof."'* 

*  Matthew  vi.  26,  adfittem.  In  Luke's  report  of  a  similar 
discourse  of  our  Lord  (Luke  xii.  29),  we  find  after  the 
charge  "  Seek  not  ye  what  ye  shall  eat  or  what  ye  shall 
drink,"  the  words  "  neither  be  ye  of  doubtful  mind. 
yJi]  iJL€T€upli^€(r9€.  "  Be  not  poised  in  suspense,  unable  to 
settle  to  anything." 


I  74  THE  FOURTH  PETITION. 

All  this  chapter  on  Providence  is  in  the  spirit  of 
the  words  "give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread." 
This  day,  Christians,  is  the  only  day  you  are 
living  in.  Perhaps  it  requires  all  the  faith  you 
can  exercise,  and  all  the  strength  you  can 
strain,  to  live  it  well.  You  have  no  overplus 
of  ability.  If  you  bring  into  this  day,  the  care 
that  belongs  to  to-morrow ;  if  you  try  to  look 
to-day  at  the  scenery  of  to-morrow  ;  if  you  try 
this  day  to  cross  the  bridge  of  to-morrow  ;  if, 
this  day,  being  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  you  try  to 
see  over  the  crest  of  it,  which  you  propose  to 
reach  to-morrow  ;  if  you  try  to  load  to-day  with 
the  pack  of  to-morrow,  you  weaken  to-day.  You 
not  only  attempt  an  impossibility,  but  you  live 
over  your  troubles  twice,  before  they  come,  and 
when  they  come.  Even  the  Arabs  rebuke  you 
by  their  proverb,  "  The  bread  of  to-morrow,  to- 
morrow." Your  days  are  already  provided  for ; 
each  day,  as  each  day  comes.  The  standing 
promise,  "as  thy  days,  so  thy  strength  shall  be," 
gives  perpetual  inspiration  to  the  prayer  that  we 
may  have  this  day  what  the  day's  necessities 
require.  This  day,  whatever  the  day  may  be  ; 
tJiis  day,  whether  day  of  peace  or  day  of  storm, 
this  day,  living  day,  or  dying  day,  for  we  depend 
on  Him  one  day  as  much  as  on  another. 

From  the  nature  of  this  prayer,  the  date  must 
be  "  this  day."  "  Prayer  is  the  Christian's  vital 
breath."     We  do  not  live  to-day  by  virtue  of 


THE  FOURTH  PETITION.  175 

our  breathing  yesterday ;  we  must  not  put  off 
our  breathing  until  to-morrow.  We  must  breathe 
to-day  or  die.  As  bread  is  the  support  of  Hfe, 
we  want  bread  to-day  that  we  may  live  to-day.* 

V.  This  petition  suggests  a  higher  petition. 

The  grace  of  Christ  is,  in  the  symbohcal 
language  of  Scripture,  so  frequently  compared 
by  food,  that  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  nearly 
all  the  primitive  expositors  adopting  some 
modification  or  other  of  the  view  that  it  in- 
volves a  prayer  for  the  nourishment  of  the 
higher  life  of  the  spirit,  over  and  above  the 
material  substance.t  This  is  not  our  view  ;  but 
while  we  regard  it  as  a  petition  only  for  the 
supplies  needful  for  our  life  in  this  world,  and 
while  we  are  comforted  by  the  thought  that 
our  Heavenly  Father  cares  for  our  bodies  as 
well  as  our  souls,  the  cry  to  Him  for  those 
earthly  supports  which  we  sum  up  under  the 
term  "  bread,"  irresistibly  suggests  a  prayer  for 
heavenly  bread.  It  is  one  thing  to  say  it  pre- 
scribes,   another    that    it    suggests   this.      The 

*  "  Our  bread,  though  in  itself  stale  and  mouldy  as 
that  of  the  Gibeonites,  is  every  day  new,  because  a  new 
and  hot  blessing,  as  I  may  say,  is  daily  begged  and  be- 
stowed of  God  upon  it."  Thomas  Fuller,  "  Meditations 
on  all  kinds  of  prayer."  —Sect.  xv.  "He  who  has  what  he 
needs  for  to-day,  and  says  what  shall  I  eat  to-morrow  1 
has  not  faith.  He  who  creates  the  day,  creates  the  food 
for  it." — Talmud,  quoted  by  Dr  Gill. 

t  "  Panis  superstantialis." 


I  76  THE  FOURTH  PETITION. 

spiritual  mind  will  from  "  the  meat  that 
perisheth,"  naturally  rise  in  thought  to  "  the 
meat  that  endureth  to  everlasting  life.* 

We  say  with  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  "O  Lord 
Thou  didst  at  first  freely  give  me  my  being. 
I  could  not  deserve  it  when  I  was  not ;  the 
same  title  that  I  have  to  my  being  I  have  to 
my  preservation  and  support  of  my  being  ;  it  is 
still  free  gift,  and  therefore  I  come  to  Thee  for 
my  bread  upon  no  other  terms  than  as  a  poor 
beggar  to  a  bountiful  Lord,  .  .  .  Give  me,  I 
pray,  bread  for  this  day,  and  when  to-morrow 
comes,  I  will  beg  bread  of  Thee  for  to-morrow. 
.  .  .  But  above  all,  ever  give  me  the  Bread  of 
Life,  that  whilst  my  body  is  fed,  my  soul  may 
not  be  starved,  either  for  the  want  of  that  ever- 
lasting Bread,  or  for  want  of  an  appetite  for  it." 

This  Bread  can  only  be  ours  as  a  gift.  Our 
life  must  be  one  perpetual  prayer  for  it.  God 
is  always  giving,  we  are  always  receiving,  so 
both  the  gift  and  the  life  supported  by  it,  we 
have  "  renewed  day  by  day."  The  clause  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer  which  we  are  now  upon,  was  read 
by  the  Anglo  Saxons,  thus — "  Our  daily  loaf 
sell  us  to  day."  f  The  word  sell  has,  in  the 
course  of  its  history  passed  through  a  change  of 
meaning,  but  not  a  few  are  ready  to  take  the 

*  "  He  who  uses  this  petition  would  do  well  to  keep 
both  in  view." — Adam  Clarke. 

t  "  Urne  da^gwamtican  hlaf  sylc  us  to-daeg." 


THE  FOURTH  I'ETITIUX.  I  77 

old  word  in  its  modern  meaning,  and  so  to  use 
it  when  they  ask  God  for  earthly  or  heavenly 
bread. 

One  sharp  winter  day,  so  runs  a  nursery 
tale,  a  poor  woman  stood  at  the  window  of  a 
king's  conservatory,  looking  at  a  cluster  of 
grapes,  which  she  longed  to  have  for  her  sick 
child.  She  went  home  to  her  spinning  wheel, 
earned  half-a-crown,  and  offered  it  to  the 
gardener  for  the  grapes.  He  waved  his  hand, 
and  ordered  her  away.  She  returned  to  her 
cottage,  snatched  the  blanket  from  her  bed, 
pawned  it,  and  once  more  asked  the  gardener  to 
sell  her  the  grapes,  offering  him  five  shillings. 
He  spoke  furiously  to  her  and  was  turning  her 
out,  when  the  princess  came  in,  heard  the  man's 
passion,  saw  the  woman's  tears,  and  asked  what 
was  wrong.  When  the  story  was  told  she  said 
"  my  dear  woman,  you  have  made  a  mistake. 
My  father  is  not  a  merchant,  but  a  king ;  his 
business  is  not  to  sell  but  to  give  ; "  so  saying,  she 
plucked  the  cluster  from  the  vine  and  dropped 
it  into  the  woman's  apron. 

All  good  things  from  God  are  gifts.  "  Gratis  " 
is  written  on  every  one,  but  most  vividly  of  all 
on  this.  Do  you  ask  "how  much?"  Do  you 
dream  that  salvation  is  for  sale .''  Can  God  sell 
pardon  ?  sell  a  new  heart .''  sell  love  ?  sell  right- 
eousness .''  sell  strength  ^  sell  any  or  all  of  the 
things  included  in  what  we  call  grace  .''  It  is  a 
M 


iy?>  THE  FOURTH   PETITION. 

gift,  and  you  can  give  nothing  for  a  gift.  You 
may,  however,  ask  for  it,  indeed  you  must.  To 
say  "you  have  the  promise,  but  you  must  pray 
for  its  fulfihnent,"  is  only  as  if  a  man  should  say 
to  a  man,  "you  shall  have  the  cheque  cashed, 
but  you  must  first  present  it."  Every  day  offer 
with  this  application,  the  petition,  "  Give  us  this 
day  our  daily  bread,"  then  every  day  you  will 
have  it,  and  have  it  in  sufficiency.  God  in 
Christ  is  saying  to  each  suppliant,  "My  grace 
is  sufficient,"  that  is,  enough  "  for  thee,"  and  each 
suppliant  may  have  in  his  heart  the  spirit  of  the 
answering  words — 

"  Thou  art  enough,  O  Lord,  for  all  my  sin, 
Enough  to  cleanse  me  and  to  keep  me  clean  ; 
All  down  life's  pathway,  lone,  or  dark,  or  rough, 
Thou  art  enough,  O  Lord,  Thou  art  enough. 

Thou  art  enough  in  days  of  light  and  gladness. 
Enough  in  days  of  sickness  and  of  sadness  ; 
Enough,  when  standing  on  death's  solemn  shore, 
Alwavs  enouijh — enough  for  ever  more." 


VIII. 

THE   FIFTH   TETITION. 

"And  forgive  us  our  debts,  as  we  also  forgive  our  debtors." 
— Matt.  vi.  12.     Authorized  Version. 

"  And  forgive  us  our  sins  ;  for  we  also  forgive  every  one  that 
is  indebted  to  us." — Luke  xi.  4.     Authorized  Version. 

"And   forgive   us   our  debts  as  we  also  have  forgiven  our 
debtors." — Matt.  vi.  12.     Revised  Version. 

"  And  forgive  us  our  sins,  for  we  ourselves  also  forgive  every 
one  that  is  indebted  to  us." — Luke  xi.  4.     Revised  Version. 

I.  Observe  how  this  petition  begins.  "-And 
forgive  us  our  debts."  This  is  not  the  only- 
instance  in  the  Record  of  an  important  passage 
which  has  "and"  for  the  significant  opening 
word.  The  ninth  chapter  of  Matthew's  gospel 
begins  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence.  The 
first  word  in  it  is  "  and."  Like  a  coupling  chain 
that  links  together  two  carriages,  it  links  the 
two  chapters  together  into  one  consecutive  train 
of  history.  The  last  verse  of  one  chapter  is — 
"  The  whole  city  came  out  to  meet  Jesus  ;  and 
when  they  saw  Him,  they  besought  Him  that 
He  would    depart   out  of  their   coasts."     The 


I  80  THE  FIFTH  PF/flTION. 

first  verse  of  the  next,  is,  "And  He  entered  into 
a  ship,  and  passed  over,  and  came  into  His  own 
city."  The  word  "  and  "  is  the  sign  of  connection 
between  the  two  statements.  The  people 
wished  Christ  to  go  away,  "  and  "  He  went  away. 
We  might  name  other  instances  from  the  same 
"  Book  of  the  Lord  "  in  which  the  word  "  and  " 
is  introductory,  in  which  also,  though  scarcely  a 
word  at  all,  it  is  used  to  carry  a  momentous 
meaning. 

This  clause  of  the  divinely  given  prayer  begins 
with  the  same  conjunction.  Christ  uses  no 
waste  words,  and  be  sure  this  is  not  one.  It 
marks  the  connection  and  fixes  the  order  be- 
tween this  and  the  preceding  request.  "Forgive 
us  our  sins,"  fitly  follows,  "give  us  this  day 
our  daily  bread."  Even  life  would  not  be  a 
boon  if  not  connected  with  pardon.  When 
the  great  Inspirer  gives  continuous  life  through 
the  continuous  gift  of  that  which  feeds  it,  we 
find  to  our  sorrow,  that  in  this  world,  the  life 
thus  given  goes  wrong — it  is  always  sinning,  and 
therefore,  always  needing  forgiveness. 

II.  A  second  peculiarity  of  this  prayer  is,  that 
it  is  a  prayer  for  the  forgiving  of  our  sins  as  tJie 
children  of  God.  Not  as  outcasts,  not  as  prisoners 
of  war,  not  as  lost  sinners,  or  as  sentenced  con- 
victs, but  as  Christians  do  we  thus  pray.  It  is 
in  fact  a  prayer  for  the  forgiveness  of  those  who 
have  already  been  forgiven.     The  statement  may 


THE  FIFTH  PETITION.  15  1 

seem  to   involve  a   contradiction.     How  shall 
we  declare  this  parable  .-* 

Our  sins  as  rebels  have  already  been  forgiven. 
From  the  happy  moment  when  we  became  "  the 
children  of  God  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,"  we 
were  forgiven  the  sins  committed  through  all 
the  days  of  our  unregeneracy,  and  on  account 
of  which  we  had  been  condemned  to  die.  Of  this 
forgiveness  the  Spirit  of  the  Most  High  speaks 
to  us  in  metaphors  intended  to  suggest  a  great- 
ness that  is  beyond  mortal  comprehension.  "  As 
far  as  the  east  is  from  the  west,  so  far  hath  He 
removed  our  transgressions  from  us."*  What 
calculus  can  help  us  to  find  out  how  far  that  is  .'' 
"  Thou  hast  cast  all  my  sins  behind  Thy  back."t 
Though  this  was  said  in  the  rapture  of  poetry, 
the  poetry  of  Scripture  can  only  speak  the 
soul  of  truth,  and  how  far  out  of  sight  is  that 
which  is  behind  the  Infinite  ?  "  Thou  wilt  cast 
all  their  sins  into  the  depths  of  the  sea."  X  How 
far  down  are  the  depths  of  that  mystic  sea  .-'  All 
these  are  terms  of  infinity,  and  created  faculties 
will  never  grasp  the  greatness  of  the  reality 
they  indicate.  In  the  day  of  our  surrender,  our 
sins  as  rebels,  were  forgiven  with  such  total  and 
absolute  completeness,  that  all  the  forgiving 
power  of  infinite  love  could  not  make  them 
more  forgiven  than  they  are.  The  fact  stuns 
us  with  its  wonderfulness,  it  seems  too  glorious 

*  Psalm  ciii.  12.  t  Isaiah  xxxviii.  17. 

J  Micahv.  19. 


I  82  THE  FIFTH  PETITION. 

to  be  true ;  long  after  our  Father  has  clasped 
us  to  His  heart,  and  welcomed  us  to  His  home, 
there  are  times  when,  as  if  He  had  not  spoken 
one  word  of  hope,  we  find  ourselves  still  asking 
Him  to  forgive  us  the  sins  of  the  life  we  wasted 
in  "the  far  country,"  as  well  as  the  sins  com- 
mitted since  our  welcome  home,  when  it  was 
said  over  each  of  us,  "  this  my  son  was  dead  and 
is  alive  again,  was  lost  and  is  found!"  For 
years  after  Dr  Donne  had  been  "accepted  in  the 
Beloved,"  he  implored  pardon  for  his  old  sins  of 
rebellion,  pouring  out  his  anguish  in  this  piteous 
cry : — 

"  Wilt  Thou  forgive  that  sin  where  I  begun, 

Which  was  my  sin,  though  it  were  done  before  ? 
Wilt  Thou  forgive  that  sin  through  which  I  run 

And  do  run  still,  though  still  I  do  deplore  ? 
When  Thou  hast  done,  Thou  hast  not  done, 
For  I  have  more. 

"  Wilt  Thou  forgive  that  sin  which  I  have  wonne 
Others  to  sin,  and  made  my  sins  their  own, 
Wilt  Thou  forgive  that  sin  which  I  did  shun 

A  year  or  two,  but  wallowed  in  a  score  ? 
When  Thou  hast  done.  Thou  hast  not  done, 
For  I  have  more. 

'  I  have  a  sinne  of  fear,  that  when  I've  spun 
My  last  thread,  I  shall  perish  on  the  shore  ; 
But  swear  by  Thyself,  that  at  my  death  Thy  Son 
Shall  shine  as  he  shines  now,  and  heretofore  ? 
And  having  done  that,  Thou  hast  done ; 
I  fear  no  more."  * 

*  Dr.  John  Donne,  1635.     Donne's  Poems,  vol.  ii.  p. 
341.     Grosart's  Fuller  Worthies. 


THE  FIFTH  pe:tition.  183 

Like  this  old  poet,  many  Christi^ins  are  still 
asking  the  forgiveness  of  sins  from  the  charge 
of  wliich  they  were  cleared  for  ever,  when,  being 
justified  by  faith,  they  crossed  the  line  from  the 
lost  to  the  saved  state,  they  use  up  in  needless 
lamentations  the  life  that  is  wanted  for  urgent 
service,  and  their  hearts  melt  with  the  misery  of 
doubt  while  they  have  a  right  to  all  the  joy  that 
rings  in  our  triumphant  challenge.  It  is  God 
that  justifieth  ;  who  is  he  that  condemneth  ?" 

In  full  gladness  of  assent  to  this,  and  as  we 
think,  in  perfect  consistency  with  it,  our  creed  is, 
that  even  after  the  grand,  initial  forgiveness 
which  is  included  in  our  "justification,"  and 
which  is  coincident  with  the  birth  within  us  of 
everlasting  life — that  is,  even  after  we  have  been 
"  born  again,"  although  we  are  children  of  God, 
we  are  for  the  present,  sinful  children.  "There 
is  not  a  just  man  upon  earth,  that  doeth  good 
and  sinneth  not."  "It  is  a  shame  that  it  should 
be  so,"  remarks  Andrew  Fuller,  "but  so  it  is. 
To  disown  it,  makes  the  matter,  not  better,  but 
worse.  This  direction  of  Christ  contains  an 
insuperable  objection  to  the  notion  of  those 
deluded  people  who  imagine  themselves  to  have 
attained  to  a  state  of  sinless  perfection.  No 
man  that  is  not  blinded  to  the  spirituality  of 
that  law  which  requires  supreme,  perfect  and 
unabated  love,  can  be  insensible  to  his  vast 
defects.      The  highest  degree  of  love  that  we  at 


184  THE  FIFTH   PETITION. 

any  time  attain,  comes  immensely  short  of  what 
we  ought  to  feel,  and  of  what  we  shall  feel  when 
presented  faultless  before  the  presence  of  the 
divine  glory.     The  only  reply  that  can  be  made 
is,  that  the  petition  may  refer  to  past  sins,  and 
not  to  present  ones.     But  is  it  not  prescribed 
along  with  a  prayer  for  our  daily  bread,  and  in 
a  prayer  which  is  daily  offered  V  * 
t      We  would  meekly  join  in  this  confession.     To 
say  that  we  do  not  sin,  is  itself  a  sin.     Sure  as 
1  that  we  sin  daily,  do  we  need  forgiveness  daily. 
(  What  we  may  think  to  be  our  sanctities  need  it, 
as  well  as  what  we   call  our  sins.     Our  tears 
need  it,  our  prayers  need  it,  our  holiness,  our 
humility,  our  love.    Brothers,  there  will  be  times, 
when,  I  will  not  say  altJioiigh  you  are  children, 
but  because  you  are — that  is,  because  you  have 
the  new  perceptive  sense  that  belongs  to  the  new 
life,  yvOi|iwill  see  in  yourselves  motives  or  actions 
that  are  tinctured  if  not  stricken  through  with 
that   which    needs    forgiveness,    there   may   be 
moments  of  fearful  revelation  when  the  sudden 
sight  of  your  sins  may  have  upon  you  the  force 
of  a  blow,  moments  when  mercy  will  be  to  you 
the  sweetest  word  in  all  the  Bible,  and  forgive- 
ness the   greatest  miracle  of  mercy.-f-      There 

*  Andrew  Fuller's  works,  vol.  vii.  p.  306-7. 

t  Life  of  John  Duncan,  LL.D.,  by  Professor  David 
Brown,  p.  408.  Speaking  four  days  before  his  death,  "  of 
the  carnal  mind,  enmity  to  God,  which  the  best  of  men 


THE  FIFTH   PETITION.  [85 

may  also  be  moments,  when,  along  with  an 
agonized  sense  of  some  sin  into  which,  though 
Christians,  you  have  been  surprised,  you  have  a 
fear  that  your  cry  for  pardon  has  not  been 
heard. 

A  Puritan  says,  "  Howsoever  the  child  of  God 
hath  his  sinnes  fully  pardoned  at  once  in  God's 
part  on  his  true  repentance  ;  yet  he  is  not  able 
to  receive  pardon  at  once,  but  must  receive  it  by 
little  and  little,  and  as  it  were  droppe  by 
droppe  ;  this  we  may  see  in  David,  who  had  the 
pardon  of  his  sinne  pronounced  by  Nathan  the 
prophet,  '  The  Lord  also  hath  put  away  thy 
sinne,  thou  shalt  not  die'  (2  Sam.  xii.  13).  Yet 
after  that,  he  penned  the  fifty-first  Psalme 
wherein  he  begged  mercie  and  forgiveness  most 
earnestly  for  that  sinne  which  God  had  already 
pardoned,  aiming  no  doubt,  at  a  more  comfort- 
able assurance  of  pardon  in  his  own  heart.''* 

In  the  ranks  of  those  who  profess  and  call 
themselves  Christians,  we  find  persons  who,  from 
two  different  reasons,  are  unprepared  to  join  in 
this  petition. 

Some,  it  appears,  understand  the  forgiveness 
of  our  rebellion  to  include,  not  only  the  grant  of 

has  at  times  to  fight  against,"  the  doctor  said,  "  I  never 
get  a  sight  of  it  but  it  produces  horror,  even  bodily  sick- 
ness," p.  487. 

*  "  The  Workes  of  that  Famous  and  Woithie  Minister  of 
Christ  in  the  Vniversity  of  Cambridge,  M.  W.  Perkins," 
1609.     Vol.  III.  p.  100. 


I  86  THE  FIFTH  PETITION. 

pardon,  but  the  gift  of  holiness,  and  that  by  one 
act  only  of  faith,  the  receiver  reaches  the  per- 
fection of  a  sinless  life — a  life  which  therefore 
has  no  further  need  of  forgiveness,  A  youth 
lately  stood  up  in  a  mission  room,  and  ad- 
dressed a  company  of  four  hundred  persons  to 
this  effect : — 

"  My  friends,  I  thank  God  that  I  can  say  to- 
night that  I  am  saved."  There  was  a  shout  of 
"  Hallelujah  !  "  Then  he  went  on  to  say,  "  I  go 
about  the  town  like  other  folks  .  .  .  and 
they  cannot  see  my  heart,  but  God  can  see  it, 
and  when  He  looks  at  my  heart  He  sees  that  it 
is  whiter  than  snow.  For  six  months  or  more, 
I  have  not  had  to  ask  Him  at  night  to  forgive 
the  sins  of  the  day ;  but  I  have  had  every  night 
to  thank  Him  for  keeping  me  from  sin.  If  He 
can  keep  me  from  sin  for  six  months.  He  can 
keep  me  all  my  life ;  and  if  He  can  keep  me. 
He  can  keep  you — every  one  of  you." 

We  set  down  these  words  of  random  ignorance, 
only  because  they  serve  to  show  in  bold,  blunt 
plainness,  one  of  those  misconceptions  and 
burlesques  of  the  glorious  gospel,  which  seem  to 
be  getting  common,  and  which  are  sometimes 
reckoned  as  belonging  to  the  statistics  of  the 
Saviour's  victories.  In  giving  this  prayer, 
though  for  the  use  of  all  the  divine  family  with- 
out an  individual  exception,  he  made  no  pro- 
vision for  a  case  like  this,  and  was  clearly  not 


THE  FIFTH  PETITION.  uSy 

aware  that  any  single  member  of  it  would,  while 
in  this  world,  ever  become  so  free  from  sin  as 
not  to  need  a  daily  share  in  the  petition — 
"  Forgive  us  our  trespasses  "  ! 

Others  being  of  a  different  school,  contend 
that  we  have  no  need  to  use  a  prayer  like  this, 
because,  although  it  is  quite  true  that  we  sin 
every  day,  our  sins,  on  to  the  end  of  life,  are 
already  forgiven.  As  the  ban  of  the  empire  is 
lifted,  and  our  justification  in  the  court  of  heaven 
proclaimed,  it  is  impossible  that  we  should  have 
any  further  forgiveness,  and  now,  instead  of 
prayer  for  pardon  wanted,  we  have  only  to  offer 
praise  for  pardon  granted. 

"  How  can  a  sin  be  forgiven  before  it  exists  ? 
Where  do  we  find  a  warrant  for  the  idea  of 
pardon  for  sins  before  they  are  lamented  or  for- 
saken ?  Forgiveness  invariably  presupposes 
repentance.  It  is  not  bestowed  on  tJiat  account 
yet  it  is  inseparably  connected  with  it.  As 
justification  includes  forgiveness,  we  may  be  said 
to  be  fully  forgiven  from  the  first  moment  we 
believe  in  Christ,  but  it  is  in  some  such  way  I 
conceive  as  we  are  said  to  be  glorified*  The 
thing  is  rendered  sure  by  the  purpose  and  pro- 
mise of  God  ;  but  as  in  that  case  a  perseverance 
to  the  end  is  promised  and  provided  for,  so  is 
repentance  and  continual  application  for  mercy 
through  Jesus  Christ  in  this.  If  it  were  true 
*  Rom.  viii.  30. 


l88  THE  FIFTH  PETITION. 

that  a  believer  might  not  persevere  to  the  end, 
it  would  be  equally  true  that  he  might  never  be 
glorified  :  and  if  it  were  possible  for  him  to  live 
in  sin  and  never  repent  of  it,  it  would  be  equally 
possible  that  he  would  never  be  forgiven — but 
He  who  has  promised  that  which  is  ultimate, 
has  provided  for  everything  immediate."* 

The  act  of  oblivion  which  makes  our  freedom 
certain  is  already  a  fact ;  but  while  we  are  mor- 
tal, the  pardon  itself  must  be  granted  perpetually. 
The  treasury  of  forgiving  love  is  already  ours ; 
the  payment  out  of  it  is  only  when  we  ask  for  it  ; 
and  this  we  shall  continue  to  ask,  and  so  con- 
tinue to  have  until  we  have  done  with  sin- 
ning. Our  salvation  is  a  settled  thing  ;  but  we 
shall  always  be  "  receiving  the  end  of  our  faith, 
even  the  salvation  of  our  souls  "  until  we  lift  our 
voices  in  the  shout  of  eternity — "  Salvation  to 
Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  and  to  the 
Lamb! "  All  the  forgiveness  is  even  now  secured, 
but  we  have  not  yet  appropriated  it  all,  and  the 
daily  prayer  "  Our  Father  .  .  .  forgive  us  our 
debts,"  is  the  daily  application  for  what  is 
already  ours,  by  successive  expressions  of  that 
faith  which  grace  has  made  the  habit  of  our 
existence. 

n.  It  is  a  prayer  for  forgiveness  in  which  sin 
is  described  as  debt.  That  which  in  the  first 
delivery  of  the  prayer  is  called  debt,  in  the 
*  Andrew  Fuller. 


THE  FIFTH  PETITION.  I  89 

second  is  called  sin  ;  much  as  if  the  Teacher 
had  said,  "it  is  sin  that  I  mean  by  debt."  In- 
deed, the  same  doctrine  is  taught  in  both  pas- 
sages. What  in  the  first  case  is  asserted,  is  in 
the  second  quite  as  distinctly  implied,  for  the 
plea  recorded  in  Luke  is,  "  forgive  us  ...  as 
we  also  forgive  every  one  that  is  indebted  to  us." 

It  strikes  us  that  in  all  the  variety  and  wealth 
of  words  used  to  show  the  evil  qualities  and 
energies  of  sin,  not  one  is  more  graphic  than 
this,  and  not  one  more  mournful. 

Even  in  this  earthly  life,  and  with  reference 
to  earthly  creditors,  while  still  the  conscience  is 
sensitive,  and  the  soul  alive,  scarcely  a  word  in 
the  English  language  drops  on  to  us  with  such  a 
deadening  blow.  It  is  the  horror  that  holy 
poverty  shrinks  from.  "  I  will  go  into  the  work- 
house rather  than  go  into  debt  !  "  Yes,  poor  old 
toiler,  it  would  be  less  shame  to  be  honourably 
indebted  to  the  laws  of  your  country  than  to  be 
meanly  indebted  under  false  pretences,  to  any 
individual. 

Debt  is  the  "thing  of  mystery  and  fear  "  that 
for  ever  haunts  the  life  even  of  many  a  man 
who  keeps  up  the  appearances  of  wealth.  The 
spectre  walks  by  his  side  with  soundless  footfall, 
sometimes  seems  to  put  a  freezing  hand  upon 
his  shoulder,  sometimes  quickens  his  steps,  some- 
times comes  round  and  looks  him  in  the  face, 
suddenly  turning  it  white  and  wet,  sometimes. 


190  THE  FIFTH  PETITION. 

when  he  is  at  home,  makes  each  knock  at  his 
door  like  a  sting  in  his  heart,  sometimes,  as  he 
sits  at  table,  shoots  out  shadowy  fingers  to 
write  "  on  the  wall  over  against  him "  letters 
that  make  him  tremble.  Debt  is  agony.  Debt 
stuns  the  intellect.  Debt  suffocates.  Debt, 
like  a  nightmare,  benumbs  that  which  it  clutches, 
makes  the  "  right  hand  forget  its  cunning,  and 
the  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  the  mouth ! " 
Debt  creates  many  an  evil  habit — the  habit  of 
staving  off  by  temporary  expedients  a  coming 
crash  ;  the  habit  of  trusting  to  chance  ;  the  habit 
of  keeping  up  a  desperate  composure  when  on 
the  edge  of  the  worst ;  habits  that  gradually 
harden  a  man,  kill  his  heart,  and  blunt  the 
fine  chastity  of  conscience,  so  that  he  is  still  able 
to  run  up  debts  with  frightful  facility,  and  to  let 
them  grow  with  soft,  noiseless,  unsuspected 
accumulation — debts  leading  to  debts,  troubles 
to  troubles,  and  lies  to  lies. 

Here,  speaking  of  man's  relation  to  God,  and 
his  transactions  with  Him,  the  Saviour  calls  our 
sins  our  debts.  The  principle  taught  is,  that  sin 
is  not  as  some  would  have  us  think,  a  weakness, 
a  sickness,  an  evil  in  ourselves,  and  which  is  only 
our  own  affair,  but  an  evil  in  its  aspect  towards 
God.  The  antecedent  sentences  suggest,  as  per- 
haps they  were  intended  to  suggest,  what  our 
debts  are.  Is  God  our  Father.-'  We  owe  Him 
lovine  reverence.     Is  He  in  heaven  .-'     We  owe 


THE  FIFTH  PETITION.  JQI 

Him  a  life  of  heavenly  affections  and  aims. 
Should  we  say  "  Hallowed  be  Thy  name .''  We 
owe  devotion  to  His  glory.  Is  it  right  to  say, 
Thy  Kingdom  come }  We  owe  Him  the 
tribute  of  subjects.  Is  it  right  to  say,  Thy 
will  be  done .''  We  owe  Him,  not  only  the 
service  of  the  active,  but  the  surrender  of  the 
choosing  faculties.  Is  it  right  to  say  give  us 
this  day  our  daily  bread }  We  owe  Him  the 
worshipping  sense  of  dependence.  These  things 
we  owe.  The  word  "  owed  "  is  related  to  the 
word  "ought,"  and  here  is  a  sad  illustration. 
Payment  is  not  that  which  t's,  but  that  which 
ouo^/it  to  be — is  still  only  that  which  is  ozved. 
Duty,  the  thing  due,  has  not  been  paid,  and  out 
of  our  own  resources  we  have  no  means  of  pay- 
ment. In  the  world  of  commerce,  the  secret 
consciousness  of  being  bankrupt  is  often  mastered 
by  reckless  levity  or  forced  composure.  Some- 
times debtors,  in  despair  of  paying  their  debts, 
afraid  to  look  into  their  books,  or  to  face  the 
facts  of  their  position,  put  the  whole  question 
away,  launch  into  extravagance,  run  up  tre- 
mendous bills,  and  get  into  a  rate  of  expenditure 
beyond  their  calculations.  So  does  the  sinner 
sometimes  act  with  reference  to  sin,  until  God  in 
tender  mercy,  by  His  sovereign  Spirit,  brings  him 
out  of  his  delirium,  and  makes  him  cry,  "  God  be 
merciful  to  me  a  sinner  !  "  Sin  after  conversion 
is  the  same  thing  as  sin  before  it.  Sins  are 
alwaj's  debts. 


192  THE  FIFTH  PETITION. 

IV.  This  is  a  prayer  for  grace.  Forgiveness 
is  an  act  of  grace.  It  might  have  been  said  in 
the  first  hour  of  spiritual  awakening :  Debtor 
to  God,  what  do  you  propose }  Compromise  t 
Composition  "i  Plea  for  patience  .-'  Request  for 
time }  Engagement  to  pay  by  extra  service  .'* 
Atoning  for  a  sinful  past  by  a  sinless  future .'' 
Doing  what  is  over  and  above  your  duty  ? 

What,  that  becomes  a  man  is  more  than  your 
duty  }  How  can  the  future  cancel  the  past } 
Who  has  told  us  that  keeping  clear  of  debts 
from  this  moment  would  liquidate  obligation 
already  contracted .''  What  merchant  writes 
"  paid "  on  a  bill  simply  because  his  debtor 
undertakes  hereafter  to  buy  only  with  ready 
money }     Common  sense  feels  insulted. 

Our  thoughts  on  the  subject  all  tend  to  the 
conclusion  with  reference  to  our  sins  after,  as 
well  as  before  our  adoption  into  the  family  of 
God,  that  there  is  nothing  left  for  us  but  to  cast 
ourselves  on  pure,  unmingled  clemency;  that 
we  have  no  plea  but  the  plea  founded  on  grace. 

V.  We  advance  to  the  remark  that  in  this 
prayer  for  forgiveness,  we  of  conrst  fall  in  luit/i 
the  divine  plan  for  its  bcstoivnient.  The  words 
here  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  suppliant  name 
no  plea,  show  no  plan ;  they  suggest  nothing, 
stipulate  nothing,  but  simply  ask  for  the  grace, 
leaving  it  for  the  Sovereign  to  determine  the  pro- 
cess by  which  that  grace  is  to  come.  The  first 
utterers  of  the  prayer  knew  not,  what  we  all 


THE  FIFTH  PETITION.  I  93 

know  now,  that  it  comes  through  him  who 
taught  it,  and  that  "we  have  redemption  through 
his  blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  according 
to  the  riches  of  his  grace."  The  time  had  not 
struck  for  the  outflash  of  the  secret;  we  know  it 
now,  and  never  separate  in  our  minds  the  thought 
of  prayer  for  forgiveness  from  the  thought  of  the 
mediating  Christ. 

"  In  processes  of  commerce  you  see  a  double 
page  ;  there  is  a  column  on  the  left  hand  and  a 
column  on  the  right.  The  one  is  called  Charge, 
the  other  Z^zVcharge.  You  observe  in  settled 
accounts  that  although  on  the  side  of  charge  a 
vast  page  may  be  crowded  with  entries,  on  the 
side  of  discharge  there  is  but  a  single  line  ;  yet 
accounts  at  the  bottom  are  equal  and  balancing. 
There  is  a  name  written  underneath  the  second 
column ;  that  stands  for  all  the  money,  and  that 
alone  secures  the  discharge.  In  the  day  when 
God's  books  are  opened,  revealing  in  long  lines 
our  heavy  debts,  Christ's  name  marked  to  our 
account  is  our  discharge."* 

In  these  simple  and  terse  terms  was  the 
doctrine  once  presented.  All  great  ideas  of 
God's  ways  suffer  and  dwindle  through  being 
distilled  through  our  poor  human  thoughts  and 
Avords.  Yet  such  in  substance  we  believe  to 
be  a  true  statement  of  the  way  in  which  grace 

*  Words  of  the  late  Rev.  William  Arnot,  now  remem 
bered  very  impcrftctly. 

N 


194  THE  FIFTH  PETITION. 

forgives  sin,  Christ  is  the  representative  man. 
He  has  so  taken  upon  himself  the  responsibihties 
of  our  debt  to  God,  and  so  discharged  them,  that 
we  who  live  in  him  and  in  whom  he  lives  are 
free! 

The  humanitarian  contends  that  the  doctrine 
of  forgiveness  through  the  suretyship  of  Christ, 
really  controverts  the  principle  of  grace,  "  Grace 
gives  for  nothing ;  but  according  to  this,  God 
gives  for  Christ's  sake ;  grace  forgives  without 
any  payment ;  God  forgives  the  debtor,  because 
a  friend  pays  for  him."     So  he  argues. 

Ah  !  there  would  be  something  in  this  argu- 
ment if  the  debtor  himself  found  the  friend. 
But,  not  only  does  God  himself  find  the  friend, 
but  God  is  the  friend — God,  in  the  Son  of  God, 
The  Supreme  Governor  of  the  Universe  alone, 
furnishes  the  expedient  which  makes  it  con- 
sistent with  the  laws  of  the  Universe  for  Him 
to  forgive  the  violator  of  those  laws.  Inter- 
preting this  phrase  of  the  prayer  by  the  facts  of 
the  completed  gospel,  we  may  fairly  take  the 
words,  "  Our  Father,  forgive  us  our  debts  " — 
as  if  they  had  been  written — Our  Father,  forgive 
us,  for  we  come  to  Thee  in  the  name  of  the 
Surety  whom  thou  hast  appointed,  aud  who  has 
put  our  debts  away  ! 

VI.  The  declaratio)i  connected  with  the  prayer. 
"  Forgive  us  our  debts,  as  we  also  forgive  our 
debtors."     This  declarative  sentence  impresses 


The  fifth  petition.  195 

us  with  the  certainty  that  unless  we  do  in  the 
spirit  and  habit  of  our  hves,  forgive  those  who 
sin  against  us,  there  is  no  hope  for  us  of  divine 
forgiveness.  "Unforgiving,  unforgiven."  Both 
versions  are  faithful  to  the  expression  of  this 
meaning,  but  the  new  puts  it  even  more 
emphatically  than  does  the  old. 

Of  course,  from  what  has  been  already  said, 
it  is  clear  that  our  forgiveness  of  sin  committed 
against  ourselves,  is  not  the  ground  and  reason 
of  God's  forgiveness  of  our  sins  against  Him. 
It  is  not  as  if  we  said,  "  seeing  that  we  forgive 
those  who  are  indebted  to  us,  therefore,  O  Father! 
forgive  what  we  owe  Thee!"  A  supposition 
that  would  not  only  attribute  to  man  the  meri- 
torious initiative  in  obtaining  his  own  pardon, 
but  would  imply  an  estimate  that  brings  down 
to  the  low  level  of  an  insignificant  human  injury 
our  sins  against  the  Majesty  of  Heaven. 

No !  the  connection  between  our  forgiveness 
of  each  other  and  God's  forgiveness  of  ourselves, 
is  not  one  of  merit,  not  one  of  cause  ;  but  one 
of  effect,  one  of  evidence,  and  so  one  of  unalter- 
able necessity.  The  law  of  forgiveness  taught 
by  Christ  as  binding  between  man  and  man, 
like  some  other  laws  of  his  kingdom,  is  treated 
as  belonging  to  the  class  of  things  called 
abstractions.  Men  are  ready  to  say  —  "  Very 
beautiful,  doubtless,  and  very  exalted — of  course 
quite  right,  but  impossible  to  be  carried  out  in 


u 


196  THE  FIFTH  PETITION. 

actual  life."  The  thought  of  many  an  acute 
practical  man  about  it,  would,  if  cast  into 
]anguage,be  something  like  that  lately  expressed 
by  a  great  legislator  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
on  a  proposition  that  was  not  deemed  to  be 
workable.  "  I  am  not  friendly,  as  a  general  rule, 
to  the  assertion  in  this  place  of  propositions  not 
susceptible  of  immediate  application  to  practice." 
*'  This  is  a  hard  saying,  who  can  bear  it .-"'  cries 
the  heart.  "  It  is  hard  indeed,  and  therefore, 
likely  to  be  evaded.  Why  else  did  Christ  make 
a  comment  on  that  petition,  passing  by  the 
others,  when  he  taught  His  disciples  to  pray.? 
And  hence  it  is  that  injuries  are  registered  in 
sheets  of  marble  when  committed  against  us, 
while  benefits  are  written  in  the  sand,  ready  to 
be  dashed  out  by  the  foot  of  the  next  that 
passeth  by."  *  Not  only  is  this  the  one  clause  of 
the  prayer  to  which  Christ  comes  back  in  the 
preceptive  sentences  close  following, — but  He 
gives  it  enforcement  by  an  impressive  parable. 

"  Therefore  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven  likened 
to  a  certain  king  which  would  make  a  reckoning 
with  his  servants,  and  when  he  had  begun  to 
reckon,  one  was  brought  unto  him  which  owed 
him  ten  thousand  talents.  But  forasmuch  as 
he  had  not  wherewith  to  pay,  his  lord  com- 
manded him  to  be  sold,  and  his  wife  and  children, 
and  all  that  he  had,  and  payment  to  be  made. 
*  Thomas  Fuller,  Sermons,  1648. 


THE  FIFTH  PETITION.  197 

The  servant  therefore  fell  down,  and  worshipped 
him,  saying,  lord  have  mercy  on  me,  and  I  will 
pay  all.  And  the  lord  of  that  servant  being 
moved  with  compassion,  released  him,  and 
forgave  him  his  debt.  But  that  servant  went 
out,  and  found  one  of  his  fellow-servants,  which 
owed  him  a  hundred  pence,  and  he  laid  hold  on 
him  and  took  him  by  the  throat,  saying.  Pay 
me  that  thou  owest.  So  his  fellow-servant  fell 
down  and  besought  him,  saying  have  patience 
with  me,  and  I  will  pay  thee.  And  he  would 
not,  but  went  and  cast  him  into  prison,  till  he 
should  pay  that  which  was  due.  So,  when  his 
fellow-servants  saw  what  was  done,  they  were 
exceedingly  sorry,  and  come  and  told  unto 
their  lord  what  was  done.  Then  his  lord  called 
him  unto  him,  and  saith  unto  him,  thou  wicked 
servant,  I  forgave  thee  all  that  debt,  because  thou 
besoughtest  me ;  shouldest  not  thou  also  have 
had  mercy  on  thy  fellow-servant,  even  as  I  had 
mercy  on  thee  .-*  and  his  lord  was  wroth,  and 
delivered  him  to  the  tormentors,  till  he  should 
pay  all  that  was  due.  So  shall  also  my  Heavenly 
Father  do  unto  you,  if  ye  forgive  not  everyone 
his  brother  from  your  hearts."  * 

Perhaps  the  form  of  this  parable  is  suggested 

by  the  system  of  blind  and  oppressive  misrule 

common  in  eastern  countries  in  olden  time.     A 

king  of  kings  would  make  one  of  his  servants 

*  Matt,  xviii.  23-25. — Reinsed  Version. 


198  THE  FIFTH  PETITION. 

king  under  himself  of  some  province  in  his 
empire,  with  the  understanding  that  he  might 
get  what  taxes  he  could  out  of  the  people,  and 
pay  to  him,  the  imperial  master,  a  certain  vast 
amount  annually,  as  a  kind  of  rent.  Such  a 
master,  here  calls  such  a  servant  to  account 
for  arrears,  and  the  story  is  used  as  a  vehicle 
for  conveying  a  lesson  on  forgiveness.  The 
"  certain  king,"  represents  God  ;  the  "  day  of 
reckoning,"  the  day  of  judgment  within  us  when 
we  stand  at  the  court  of  conscience,  and  the 
Spirit  questions  us  about  our  sins  ;  the  sum  of 
ten  thousand  talents — the  sum  owing  by  the 
steward — hints  at  the  immensity  of  what  we 
owe  to  God.  It  suggests  something  not 
countable,  not  speakable,  not  thinkable.  "  Ten 
thousand,  or  a  myriad,  being  the  highest  number 
in  Greek  arithmetical  notation ;  an  enormous 
sum,  which,  even  if  the  silver  talent  be  designed, 
amounts  to  ;£"4,500,000  sterling,  but  which,  if  the 
gold  talent  be  meant,  which  is  far  the  most 
likely,  then  the  amount  is  nearly  equal  to  the 
annual  revenue  of  the  British  Empire,  that 
is,  equivalent  to  more  than  ;^70,ooo,ooo  ster- 
ling." * 

*  Substance  of  a  note  made  by  Dr  Adam  Clarke  in 
1804.  The  revenue  for  the  year  1881-2  was  reported  to 
be  ^85,822,000. 

How  great  a  sum  it  was,  we  may  see  by  comparing 
it  with  other  sums  of  which  mention  is  made  in  Scripture. 


THE  FIFTH  PETITION.  1 99 

I  say — you  man  there  !  looking  so  satisfied, 
feeling  so  strong — so  safe  in  your  standing,  so 
calm  in  your  sense  of  respectability, — you  owe 
more  than  seventy  millions  sterling !  unless 
you  pay  it,  you  are  lost !  This  is  a  figure, 
but  it  truthfully  expresses  a  fact.  "A  duty 
unfulfilled,  is  a  debt  unpaid:"  admit  this,  and 
you  will  also  admit  that  your  debts  to  God  are 
more  than  can  be  represented  by  this  or  any 
other  known  symbol.  The  load  is  enough  to 
sink  a  soul,  and  you  are  lost ! 

"Oh  no!"  cries  one,  "thank  God,  no,  no! 
have  you  not  heard  .-'  Christ  has  paid  all  that 
debt  for  me  ;  Christ  is  my  ransom  ;  Christ  is 
my  surety ;  for  His  sake  I  have  been  forgiven 
all  the  old  life  of  sin,  have  been  freed  from  the 
old  sentence  of  condemnation;  the  "handwriting 
that  was  against  me  "  is  crossed  out ;  my  place 
now  is  not  the  prison  of  justice  but  the  palace 
of  the  Great  King.  I  am  one  of  His  children  ; 
I  sit  at  His  table ;  it  is  true  that,  child  as  I  am. 

In  the  construction  of  the  Tabernacle  29  talents  of  gold 
were  used  (Exod.  xxxviii.  24) ;  David  prepared  for  the 
Temple  3000  talents  of  gold,  and  the  princes  5000 
(1  Chron.  xxix.  1-7)  ;  the  Queen  of  Sheba  presented  to 
Solomon  120  talents  (i  Kings  x.  10)  ;  the  King  of 
Assyria  laid  upon  Hezekiah  30  talents  of  gold  (2  Kings 
xviii.  14)  ;  and  in  the  extreme  impoverishment  to  which 
the  land  was  brought  at  last,  one  talent  of  gold  was  laid 
upon  it  after  the  death  of  Josiah,  by  the  King  of  Egypt 
(2  Chron.  xxxvi.  3).— Archbishop  Trench. 


200  THE  FIFTH  PETITION. 

I  sin  every  day,  and  I  grieve  for  this,  but  I  go 
every  day  to  Him  with  all  His  other  children, 
with  the  petition  '  Forgive  us  our  debts,'  and  so 
I  have  forgiveness." 

Well,  but  have  you  forgiven  those  who  tres- 
pass against  you  ?  "Yes."  Quite  sure  ?  "Yes." 
Have  you  forgiven  and  forgotten  .?  Ah  no ! 
There  is  still  in  some  instance  a  secret  reserve, 
a  sleeping  grudge.  You  say  "  I  can  forgive,  but 
not  forget."  Shall  God  say  the  same  of  you  .-* 
His  word  is,  "  I  will  blot  out  their  transgressions, 
and  remember  their  iniquities  no  more."*  This 
is  His  way  of  forgiving.  If  He  had  said  "  I  will 
forgive  your  debts,  but  I  will  remember  them"; 
this  would  have  sounded  ominously  ;  the  forgive- 
ness would  not  have  been  thorough,  and  you 
would  have  been  ready  to  cry  out  in  your  fear, 
"Not  to  forget,  is  not  to  forgive." 

Chrysostom  intimates  that  many  persons  in 
his  congregation,  when  praying,  suppressed  this 
clause — "  as  we  forgive  our  debtors."  Do  you  ? 
Say  this  after  me — "  Forgive  us,  as  we  forgive 
our  debtors."  As  the  meaning  grows  upon  you, 
you  tremble  beneath  its  weight.  Some  of  you 
are  not  able  to  lift  your  hand  before  the  Al 
mighty  God  of  truth,  and  make  this  declaration, 
you  see  also,  that  prayer  for  God's  pardon  so 
worded,  amounts  to  a  prayer  that  His  forgive- 
ness of  you  may  be  like  your  forgiveness  of 
*  Jer.  xxxi.  34  ;   Heb.  viii.   12. 


THE  FIFTH  PETITION.  20I 

others — forgiveness,  but  with  reserve,  forgive- 
ness of  the  offence,  but  with  retention  of  thought 
about  it,  therefore  conscience  keeps  you  speech- 
less. 

Yet  if  you  are  not  forgiving,  there  is  no 
warrant  for  offering  prayer  that  you  may  be 
forgiven.  It  is  the  Master  Himself  who  has 
wrought  this  lesson  into  the  pattern  of  praying 
language  into  which  we  now  look,  and  in  the 
parable  just  used  as  an  illustration,  he  shows 
the  monstrosity  of  a  spirit  which  a  servant  who 
had  been  forgiven  by  his  king  a  debt  almost  too 
great  to  be  calculated,  refuses  to  forgive  his 
fellow  servant  one  that  in  comparison  with  it 
was  almost  too  small  to  be  named. 

Once,  when  our  Lord  had  been  teaching  this 
law  of  brotherly  forgiveness  the  difficulty  of 
obedience  seemed  so  great  to  His  disciples,  and 
the  thought  of  it  so  filled  them  with  dismay, 
that  their  one  instant  cry  was,  "  Lord  increase 
our  faith  " !  Let  this  be  our  cry,  and  when  in 
answer  to  it,  faith  gets  stronger,  and  we  cleave 
closer  to  the  Crucified  One  who  ever  lives  to  be 
the  medium  of  our  renewed  life,  we  shall  have 
more  of  His  forgiving  power.  We  shall  not  at 
once  have  it  to  perfection,  but  we  shall  go  on  to 
perfection  in  having  it.  We  shall  have  it  in  our 
measure,  and  as  grace  grows,  that  will  grow. 
The  Spirit   of  Him    who   "creates   all   things 


202  THE  FIFTH  PETITION, 

anew,"  must  be  within  us,  to  master  our  vexed 
and  excitable  lives,  and  whenever  that  Spirit, 
brooding  over  the  troubled  waters  of  a  soul, 
says,  "Let  there  be  forgiveness,''  there  is  for- 
giveness. 


IX. 

THE   SIXTH   PETITION. 

"And    lead    us    not    into    temptation." — Matt.    vi.    12; 
Luke  xi.  4.     Authorized  Version. 

"And    bring   us   not   into    temptation." — Matt.    vi.    13; 
Luke  xi.  4.     Revised  Version. 

The  Lord's  Prayer  is  for  the  use  of  the  family 
while  travelling  home.  This  is  no  easy  travell- 
ing. A  poet,  speaking  of  the  modern  *  "Pilgrim's 
Progress,"  reminds  us  that  there  can  be  no 
railway  to  the  Celestial  City — that  the  journey 
must  still  be  made  in  the  ancient  fashion — 
made  so  to  speak,  on  foot — made  not  for  us,  but 
by  us.  The  onward  movement  is  not  like  that  of 
a  carriage,  while  we  are  asleep  inside  it,  but  must 
be  the  result  of  our  own  individual  volition  and 
exertion.  "  We  zvalk ; "  and  we  walk  "  by  faith 
not  by  sight."  Some  of  us  notice  that  the 
shadows  begin  to  lengthen.  The  day  will  soon 
be  over.  Jesus,  our  Sun  is  gone  before  us, 
is  out  of  sight,  and  is  already  creating  the  glory 

See  Hawthorne's  Allegory  of  the  modern  "  Pilgrim's       ^ 
Progress  "  b)'  rail.  '^^ 


204  THE  SIXTH  PETITION. 

of  the  land  that  we  call  Heaven.  So,  we  are 
"stepping  westward."  Questioned  as  to  this, 
each  one  of  us  might  answer — 

"  Stepping  westward  did  you  say  ? 
"  Stepping  westward  ?  Yes  alway  ; 
"  With  staff  and  scrip, 
"  Wayfaring  songs  upon  our  lip, 
"  Stepping,  stepping  to  the  end."* 

"  Wayfaring  "  prayers  as  well  as  songs  are  upon 
our  lip,  and  this  is  one — "  lead  us  not  into 
temptation." 

I.  This  is  an  appeal  to  our  Leader. 

I.  It  implies  that  our  Father  is  our  Leader. 
No  other  leader  knows  the  way.  It  must  be  so, 
for  ours  is  a  pilgrimage,  not  through  space,  but 
through  time.  Whatever  else  we  have  seen,  we 
have  not  seen  to-morrow.  Whatever  maps  we 
have  consulted,  we  have  never  found  a  map  of 
the  future.  No  Atlas  can  help  us.  The  road 
beyond  the  moment  in  which  I  now  plant  my 
foot,  is  all  mist.  We  know  that  at  some  time 
or  other,  we  may  have  to  wade  heavily  through 
black  suffocating  thoughts  that  make  the 
"Slough  of  Despond  ;"  or  to  toil  wearily  up 
the  "  Hill  Difficulty;"  or,  our  spirits  quivering 
with  awful  touches,  to  go  down  into  the  "  Valley 
of  the  Shadow  of  Death,"  or  to  be  locked  in  the 
cell  of  "  Doubting  Castle ;"  or  to  drink  the  air 
and  see  the  beauty  of  the  "  Delectable  Moun- 

*  From  "  Poet's  Harvest  Home,"— WilHam  Bell  Scott. 


THE  SIXTH  PETITION.  205 

tains."  There  are  lions  in  the  way  ;  and  giants 
for  each  red  cross  knight  to  fight  with,  but  when 
or  where  these  sceneries  may  break  upon  us,  or 
these  adventures  open,  no  horoscope  can  tell. 
Our  Father  knows,  for  "He  inhabiteth  Eternity," 
and  sees  the  "  end  from  the  beginning."  In 
Him  therefore  do  we  place  our  trust,  and  to  Him 
do  we  lift  this  cry.  It  does  but  continue  the 
train  of  appeal  that  began  in  the  opening  words 
— "  Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven  !"  We  are 
not  tired  by  repetition  of  our  familiar  hymn — 

Lead  Thou  me  on, 
Keep  Thou  my  feet,  I  do  not  ask  to  see 
The  distant  scene  ;  one  step  enough  for  me. 
I  was  not  ever  thus,  nor  prayed  that  Thou 

Should'st  lead  me  on  ; 
I  loved  to  choose  and  see  my  path,  but  now, 

Lead  Thou  me  on. 
I  loved  the  garish  day,  and  spite  of  fears. 

Pride  ruled  my  will. 
Remember  not  past  years. 
So  long  Thy  power  hath  blessed  me,  sure  it  still 

Will  lead  me  on. 
O'er  moor  and  fen,  o'er  crag  and  torrent,  till 

The  night  is  gone, 
And  with  the  morn,  those  angel  faces  smile 
Which  I  have  loved  long  since, 

And  lost  awhile.  * 

We  should  make  this  appeal  with  a  correct 
understanding  of  what  is  here  meant  by  being 
led.     In    both   instances  of  its  occurrence,  the 
J.  H.  Newman, 


206  THE  SIXTH  PETITION. 

latest  translators  have  changed  it  for  the  word 
bring.  The  authorised  version  in  every  other 
instance  where  the  Greek  word  in  question  is 
used,  renders  it  brmg,  and  there  seems  to  be  no 
good  reason  why  we  should  not  so  translate  it 
here.  * 

Every  one  sees  the  meaning  of  the  word 
lead ;  we  put  the  same  meaning  into  the  word 
bring,  only  giving  it  greater  strength.  "  Lead- 
ing" may  mean  the  gentlest  of  directive  help 
along  the  road,  but  "  bringing "  is  something 
more  energetic.  In  order  to  bring,  a  leader 
may  have  sometimes  to  carry,  sometimes  to 
fight,  sometimes  to  clear  away  obstructions. 
The  pilgrim  is  his  charge,  therefore  by  all 
needful  processes,  and  in  the  most  effectual 
way,  he  fulfils  what  he  undertakes. 

This  view  of  our  Father's  leading  is  fraught 

*  fiT]  eiaeveyijs.  In  the  authorised  version  it  is  trans- 
lated as  follows,  in  the  six  other  instances  of  its 
occurrence  in  the  New  Testament. 

Luke  V.  1 8,  19.  The  men  who  carried  the  paralytic 
sought  means  to  "  bring  him  on  "  to  Jesus.  The  phrase 
is  twice  used. 

Luke  xii.  1 1.  "When  they  bring  you  into  the  syna- 
gogues ." 

Acts  xvii.  20.  "  Thou  bringest  strange  things  to  our 
ears." 

1  Tim.  vi.  7.     "  We  brought  nothing  into  the  world." 

Hebrews  xiii.  11.  "  The  bodies  of  those  beasts  whose 
blood  is  brought  into  the  sanctuary." 

In  classical  Greek  this  verb  means  to  bring  or  carry. 


THE  SIXTH  PETITION.  207 

with  inspiriting  strength.  It  conveys  the  idea 
which  holy  men  by  the  rivers  of  Babylon  ex- 
pressed under  their  favourite  phrase,  the 
"  Hand  of  our  God  is  on  us."  To  bring  me, 
He  holds  me.  A  family  of  tourists  climbed 
up  certain  perilous  rocks  on  the  coast  of 
Cornwall ;  as  the  father  went  on  first,  with  his 
little  son,  the  mother  from  below,  called  out  to 
her  boy,  "  have  you  fast  hold  of  your  father  "  ? 
Then  was  heard  the  shrill  ring  of  a  voice, 
answering  with  perfect  sense  of  safety  in  its 
tone — "  No,  mother,  but  he  has  fast  hold  of 
me.''  So  is  our  Father  in  Heaven  leading  us 
by  bringing  us  up  through  danger,  and  out  of 
it.  Catching  sight  of  certain  dangers  called 
temptations,  we  utter  this  cry. 

2.  We  make  this  appeal  to  our  Father  with 
a  sense  of  His  nearness.  We  are  not  saying 
this  to  a  God  who  is  afar  off.  Such  a  God 
could  not  at  any  moment  be  within  hearing,  nor 
could  He  be  leading  us.  To  many  God  is  an 
almost  unimaginable  Being,  dwelling  in  the 
light  of  infinite  splendour,  and  the  reserves  of 
awful  solitude,  countless  millions  of  miles  away, 
no  man  having  at  any  time  seen  His  face,  or 
heard  his  voice,  but  it  is  not  so  with  us.  We 
have  already  learned  that  just  because  He  is 
our  Father  in  Heaven,  He  is  everywhere  :  for 
He  is  Lord  in  Heaven  only  because  He  is 
infinite.     The  Father  leads  us  through  the  Son 


2o8  THE  SIXTH  PETITION. 

by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  by  His  Spirit,  He  is 
with  our   spirits.     From    the  necessity  of  His 
perfection  He  is  near — near  as  the  hand  is  to 
that  which  it  brings,  as  the  air  is  to  that  which 
it  fans,  as  the  stream  is  to  that  which  it  laves, 
as  the  sun  is  to  the  body,  diffusing  heat  through 
every  atom  of  its  frame,  and  every  pulsation  of 
its  life.     Nay,  unspeakably  nearer  is  the  inti- 
macy of  the  Saviour  to  the  saved,  for  their  love 
to  Him  is  but  the  indwelling  of  His  own  love. 
Sin  is  near,  sorrow  is  near,  danger  is  near,  Satan 
is    near,  death   is  near,  but   the   soul's  Leader 
is  always  nearer.     This  cry  is,  therefore,  not  a 
shout  sent  up  to  One  who  is  at  a  distance ;  it 
may  be  but  a  thought   that  scarcely   emerges 
from  silence,  a  mere  movement  of  the  soul  to 
Him  who  is  nearer  than  near ;  and,  when  from 
the  agony  of  my  panic,  I  can  find  no  voice,  He 
who  is  leading  me  is  so  close  to  me,  that  He 
hears   the   trembling  of  the  unspoken  prayer, 
"  Bring  us  not  into  temptation." 

n.  This  petition  comes  from  the  fear  that 
when  in  answer  to  our  last  petition,  our  sins  are 
forgiven,  we  shall  be  tempted  to  sm  again.  We 
have  just  asked  for  forgiveness,  because, 
although  heaven  born  and  heaven  bound,  we 
are  always  failing  to  pay  what  our  spirits  owe  ; 
are  always  like  Christ's  first  disciples,  even 
while  going  with  Him  up  to  Jerusalem,  hurting 
His  love  by  a  spirit  contrary  to  His  own ;  are 


THE  SIXTH  PETITION.  20^ 

always  needing  to  renew  our  entreaty  for  par- 
don. 

You  therefore  see  the  connection  between 
what  we  now  are  saying,  and  what  has  just 
been  said.  This  connection  is  suggested  by  the 
introductory  use  of  the  word  "  and."  Now,  as  in 
the  last  instance  in  which  the  particle  has  this 
peculiar  place — it  links  two  petitions  together, 
so  that  the  spirit  of  the  first  still  runs  on  into 
the  second.  If  the  hurry  of  our  joys  at  the 
answer  to  our  prayer  "  forgive  us  our  debts," 
should  make  us  forget  to  add,  "lead  us  not 
into  temptation,"  the  weight  of  debt  may  be 
scarcely  lifted,  before  we  are  in  debt  again. 
That  sentence  is  therefore  followed  up  by 
this.  Having  pardon  for  the  past,  we  want 
grace  for  the  future,  and  so  have  within  us  the 
longing  which  made  an  ancient  suppliant  say — 
"  Thou  hast  delivered  my  soul  from  death ; 
will  not  Thou  deliver  my  feet  from  falling,  that 
I  may  walk  before  God  in  the  light  of  the 
living  .-*  "* 

We  find  that  in  the  Bible,  the  word  tempta- 
tion is  used  with  two  different  meanings. 
Sometimes  it  simply  means  to  try;  some- 
times to  entice;  the  purpose  in  the  one  case 
being  good,  in  the  other — evil. 

When,  on  the  one  hand,  we  read  that  "  God 
did  tempt  Abraham,"  we  understand  the  term 
*  Psalm  Ivi.  13. 
O 


210  THE  SIXTH  PETITION. 

as  meaning  that  He  tried  him  as  the  pruner 
tries  the  tree,  the  refiner  the  silver,  as  the  strong 
strain  or  dead  weight  tests  the  efficiency  of  that 
which  has  hard  work  to  do. 

When,  on  the  other  hand,  we  read  that 
"Satan  did  tempt  David,"  we  understand  that 
he  enticed  him  to  sin.  Granted,  that  all 
temptation  includes  trial — that  even  a  tempta- 
tion plied  by  Satan  is  often  used  by  Satan's 
Master,  and  over-ruled  to  be  a  Divine  instru- 
ment for  the  invigoration  of  our  faith — that 
what  was  meant  for  evil  is  transmuted  into 
good,  and  that  the  ultimate  issue  defeats  the 
primary  design  ;  still,  temptation  is  meant  by 
the  evil  one  to  work  nothing  but  evil,  and  it  is 
against  this  kind  of  temptation  that  we  now 
pray.  We  tremble  at  the  thought  of  sin  :  and 
pray  to  our  Leader  that  we  may  not  be  led 
into  it. 

III.  We  thus  pray,  because  we  know  that 
our  path  abounds  with  instruments  and  occa- 
sions of  temptation. 

These  would  not  be  so  certainly  dangerous, 
if  they  all  had  open  advertisement — if  danger- 
signals  hung  out  near  all  danger — if  everything 
that  had  in  it  the  nature  of  hell  made  itself 
visible  by  the  light  of  its  own  hell-fire — if  every 
snare  had  the  word  "  Temptation  "  written  on 
it,  by  the  hand  of  mystery  that  wrote  on  the 
palace  wall  of  Babylon,  you  would  keep  out  of  its 


THE  SIXTH  PETITION.  2  I  I 

way  ;  "for  in  vain  is  the  snare  spread  in  the  sight 
of  any  bird."  You  would  not  bathe  in  brightest 
waters  while  seeing  sharks  play  there ;  you 
would  catch  up  no  basket  of  flowers  like  Cleo- 
patra's if  you  saw  the  asp  lifting  its  head  from 
below,  for  only  the  lunatic  will  "  dally  with  the 
crested  worm."  Life  is  not  in  love  with  death  ; 
and  the  instincts  of  holiness  would  make  the 
Christian  shun  a  sin  when  known  to  be  a  sin, 
even  without  the  warning,  "  avoid  it,  pass  not 
by  it,  turn  from  it  and  pass  away,"  But  it  is  not 
so.  The  sin  that  is  near  us  constantly  hides 
itself  under  a  false  colour  and  a  wrong  name. 

We  may  be  led  into  temptation,  when  in 
business.  Business  is  not  in  itself  a  sin.  It  is 
not  a  sin  to  make  the  most  of  the  earth,  to  get 
the  most  out  of  it,  to  make  it  answer,  to  turn  it 
into  value,  and  to  do  that  with  it  which  creates 
wealth.  The  commandment  to  "  dress  and 
keep "  the  garden  in  Avhich  God  has  set  man, 
so  as  to  "  replenish  and  subdue  the  earth,"  was 
given  before  the  fall,  and  is  still  binding  on  us ; 
but  in  the  world  as  it  now  is,  who  does  not 
know  that  while  in  pursuance  of  this  lawful  end, 
we  may  be  led  into  something  that  is  unlawful } 
When  a  thing  that  is  in  itself  only  subsidiary,  is 
interesting,  there  is  a  tendency  to  take  too  keen 
an  interest  in  it.  Dealing  with  earthly  things, 
we  may  be  too  eager  to  gain  them,  too  grasping 
to  keep  them,  and  too  sorrowful  to  let  them  go. 


212  THE  SIXTH  PETITION. 

We  may  be  mastered  by  the  law  of  assimilation, 
and  so  become  like  the  elements  that  we  work 
in.  "Bury  a  man  in  earth," says  the  shrewd  Owen 
Feltham,  "  and  he  himself  will  soon  be  earth." 

We  may  be  led  into  temptation  by  the  habits 
of  society.  Let  me  try  to  make  my  meaning 
plain  by  a  parable.* 

Sometime  after  the  last  of  the  Apostles  died, 
there  lived  at  Ephesus  a  thriving  man  of  business 
named  Marcus,  who  was  an  elder  of  the  Church. 
His  wife,  though,  like  himself,  an  accredited 
member  of  the  church,  was  scarcely  reclaimed 
from  the  prevailing  heathenism,  and  still 
cherished  with  sentimental  interest,  though  not 
with  belief,  the  old  poetic  stories  of  Apollo  and 
Venus,  Jove  and  Diana. 

Their  children,  as  the  children  of  persons 
rising  in  life,  were  sent  to  schools  suited  to  the  rich 
or  the  risen  class,  and  where  it  was  thought  a  sign 
of  respectability  to  honour  "  the  fair  humanities 
of  old  religion."  Naturally,  the  associates  of 
these  children,  as  they  grew  older,  were  the 
fashionable  heathen.  They  entreated  and  coaxed 
their  parents  in  one  thing  after  another  to  con- 
form to  heathen  usages.  "  Why  should  we  be 
singular.?"  it  was  said,  "  Why  should  we  not  be 
at  feasts  where,  just  for  mere  form's  sake,  libations 

*  This  is  suggested  by  a  story  read  long  ago,  though  I 
fail  to  remember  the  thread  of  it,  nor  can  I  say  where  it 
is  given. 


THE  SIXTH  PETITION.  213 

are  made  to  Apollo,  so  long  as  we  do  not  believe 
in  Apollo  ?  Why  should  we  refuse  meats  con- 
secrated to  the  heathen  gods,  when  every  one 
knows  that  this  consecration  means  nothing  ? 
How  are  we  to  reclaim  the  heathen,  if  we  never 
mingle  with  them  ?  and  besides,  did  not  our 
Master  sit  with  publicans  and  sinners  ?" 

Marcus  was  a  man  courteously  inclined,  easily 
entreated,  happy  to  see  others  happy,  especially 
sympathetic  with  the  happiness  of  youth ;  and 
just  now,  on  the  principle  "that  extremes  beget 
extremes,"  was  tempted  to  the  extreme  of 
laxity  because  some  Christians  had  gone  to  the 
extreme  of  stringency  —  making  as  he  justly 
thought,  religion  appear  to  the  young,  less  like  a 
divine  principle  than  a  hardy,  narrow,  censorious 
prejudice.  So,  afraid  to  create  a  prejudice  in 
young  minds  against  religion,  gradually,  but 
uneasily,  the  good  Marcus  gave  way. 

Gradually,  you  saw  his  children  at  heathen 
festive  meetings  held  at  their  friends'  houses. 
"  Why  not !  The  heathen  should  never  have 
ground  for  saying  that  Christians  are  morose." 
Gradually,  toiler  though  he  was,  his  own  house 
would  become  the  scene  of  a  sumptuous  enter- 
tainment, where,  between  the  toil  of  yesterday 
and  the  toil  of  to-morrow,  hot,  exhausted  crowds, 
in  hot  exhausted  air,  would  be  in  mazy  motion 
most  of  the  night.  "  Why  not  ?  Entertain- 
ments of  this  kind,"  it  would  be  said,  "  are  ab- 
solutely necessary  to  maintain  our  position,  and 


2  1 4  THE  SIXTH  PETITION. 

if  we  accept  them,  we  must  return  them."  Grad- 
ually you  saw  about  his  walls,  silver  or  marble 
statuettes  of  Jupiter  or  Venus.  "Why  not? 
They  are  not  for  worship,  of  course ;  they  are 
placed  there  simply  in  compliance  with  the 
general  usage  of  good  society."  Gradually  in 
the  course  of  these  evening  entertainments,  ex- 
quisite perfumes  from  censers  richly  wrought, 
would  be  waved  before  these  images.  "  Why 
not .''  It  is  always  done ;  nobody  means  any- 
thing by  it ;  and  as  for  the  statuette,  we  know 
that  an  idol  is  nothing  in  the  world." 

At  last,  fellow  Christians  would  venture  on 
remonstrance.  Then  the  young  people  in  the 
family  of  Marcus  would  fire  up,  and  answer 
grandly — "  You  tell  us  that  we  are  in  danger. 
We  tell  you  that  we  know  when  to  stop.  You 
tell  us  that  we  distress  the  consciences  of  persons 
in  the  church,  who  keep  to  the  simplicity  of  the 
old  faith,  and  check  the  decision  of  converts. 
We  beg  to  reply,  that  we  glory  in  everything 
broad,  and  scornfully  repudiate  everything 
narrow.  The  meanest  of  all  influences  over  con- 
duct, is  that  which  comes  from  the  thought  of 
what  others  may  think.  Others  may  think  it 
religion  to  shut  themselves  up  and  read  the  old 
gospel  manuscripts ;  we  stand  up  for  our  own 
rights  ;  and,  whatever  others  do,  as  for  us,  and 
our  house,  we  will  please  ourselves."  So  by 
degrees,  they  were  led  into  temptation,  and  at 


THE  SIXTH  PETITION.  2  I  5 

length  it  became  impossible  to  tell  from  any 
social  signs,  whether  these  advanced  Christians 
were  servants  of  Jesus  or  of  Jupiter.  Let  us,  as 
far  as  it  is  needful,  apply  the  principle  thus 
suggested,  to  the  circumstances  of  our  own 
day. 

We  may  be  led  into  temptation  by  retiring 
from  the  world.  It  must  be  plain  to  every  one 
who  forms  a  fair  estimate  of  men  as  they  are, 
that  the  great  majority  of  them  regard  Christian 
principles  as  expounded  in  the  New  Testament, 
with  dead  indifference  or  sarcastic  hostility. 
The  many  are  of  the  world  ;  Xh^fezv  are  not  of 
it.  So  patent  is  this  fact,  and  so  patent  has  it 
ever  been,  that  according  to  the  supreme  book, 
the  term  "  world,"  marking  the  ungodly,  is  the 
term  that  also  represents  the  idea  of  society  in 
general ;  obviously  importing,  that,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  inspiration,  the  ungodly  form  the  mass 
of  mankind.  This  is  an  alarming  consideration, 
for  it  implies  that  if  we  are  thorough-going 
Christians,  we  have  to  hold  our  ground  or  make 
our  way  against  an  opposing  mass.  Surely  that 
which  has  at  once  mass  and  momentum,  weight 
and  velocity,  must  carry  all  before  it !  It  has 
often  been  thought  therefore,  that  there  is  no 
safety  for  those  who  are  "  not  of  the  world  "  but 
by  getting  out  of  its  way. 

If  we  attempt  this  by  retirement  into  some 
scene  of  quiet  happiness,  we  may  there  meet  with 


2l6  THE  SIXTH  PETITION. 

new  temptations.  In  the  middle  ages,  when 
it  was  a  common  article  of  belief  that  the  garden 
of  Eden,  though  a  holy  secret,  guarded  by- 
angels,  still  flowered  in  all  its  glory  in  some 
Eastern  land,  many  a  terrified  soul  in  wicked 
city  or  monastic  cell,  would  doubtless  dream  of 
the  blessedness  there  would  be  in  finding  the 
spot,  and  dwelling  there  guarded  from  Satanic 
spells. 

Yet,  Paradise  was  the  scene  of  the  fall,  and 
there  it  was  that  man  was  first  led  into  tempta- 
tion. Be  sure  that  if  we  could  find  or  make 
some  earthly  Paradise  of  our  own,  where  we 
might  hear  "  the  voice  of  the  Lord  God  walking 
in  the  trees  of  the  garden,"  where  "  the  world 
forgetting  and  the  world  forgot,"  holy  love 
would  tremble  into  tenderness,  thought  into 
flame,  and  where  there  would  be  no  outward 
interruptions  to  prayers,  even  there,  a  tempting 
spirit  would  find  us. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  fled  into  a  wilder- 
ness, we  should  still  be  followed.  In  the  same 
old  times  at  which  we  have  just  glanced,  devo- 
tion has  often  sped  in  alarm  from  the  world 
into  the  wilderness.  The  devotee  has  many  a 
day  made  his  escape  to  some  stern  solitude, 
where,  a  cave  his  house,  a  litter  of  leaves  his 
bed,  roots  his  food,  his  drink  the  crystal  spring — 
he  has  tried  to  crucify  every  natural  inclination, 
to  strain  all  humanity  out  of  his  body,  and  to 


THE  SIXTH  PETITION.  21/ 

steep  his  soul  in  ghastly  meditations,  that  thus 
he  might  keep  out  Satan.  But  old  legends 
testify  that  on  such  lives  Hell  has  often  spent 
its  utmost  fury,  and  that  in  such  conditions, 
poor  souls  have  suffered  most  from  the  poison 
of  idle  thought  or  polluting  fancy. 

Though  the  first  Adam  was  tempted  in  a 
garden,  the  second  was  tempted  in  a  wilderness. 
There  it  was,  that  through  forty  days,  with  no 
rich  fruits  to  stay  the  sting  of  hunger,  no  clear 
stream  rippling  over  golden  sands  to  slake  his 
thirst,  no  shelter  from  the  fiery  day  or  the  freez- 
ing night,  and  where — beauty  banished,  grim 
desolation  sat  enthroned.  He  who  afterwards 
died  for  us,  was  tempted,  and  the  wilderness 
was  the  memorable  field  in  which  man's  great 
representative  fought  with  man's  great  foe. 
After  this,  let  no  follower  of  His  hope  to  escape 
"  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked  one,"  by  living  in 
any  wilderness  of  self-inflicted  poverty  or  pain. 
The  principle  of  seeking  retirement  from  the 
world  of  temptation,  either  in  some  kind  of 
Eden  or  in  some  kind  of  wilderness  is  always 
being  tried  in  some  form  or  other,  and  always 
fails. 

We  may  be  led  into  temptation  even  when  we 
feel  most  secure  from  it  by  communion  with  God. 
When  was  Christ  himself  tempted  }  Bishop 
Hall  says,  "  No  sooner  has  Christ  come  out  of 
the  waters  of  baptism,  than  he  comes  into  the 


2  I  8  THE  SIXTH  PETITION. 

fire  of  temptation.  No  sooner  does  the  Spirit 
come  in  the  form  of  a  dove,  than  he  is  '  led  by 
the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness.'  No  sooner  doth 
God  say  'this  is  my  beloved  Son  in  whom  I 
am  well  pleased,'  than  Satan  darts  the  sug- 
gestion of  doubt,  '  zyThou  be  the  Son  of  God.' " 
We  have  in  Christ's  experience  a  rehearsal  of 
what  is  likely  to  be  our  own.  It  is  a  specimen 
of  what  is  common  in  the  tempter's  strategy. 

After  a  season  of  profit  and  privilege,  you  may 
expect  to  be  caught  in  some  artifice  or  chal- 
lenged to  some  deadly  fight.  The  robber  of 
the  soul  waits  for  the  moment  when  the  soul, 
being  most  happy,  is  least  cautious,  and  has 
most  to  lose.  "  It  is  the  man  bringing  his 
dividend  from  the  banker's  door  who  has  most 
cause  to  dread  the  pilferer's  hand."* 

IV.  It  implies  a  sense  of  our  oivn  teviptable- 
ness.  When  angels  have  been  sent  to  this 
world  on  errands  of  wrath  or  love  they  have 
moved  sinless  through  an  atmosphere  of  sin, 
and  amidst  its  worst  infections,  they  could  no 
more  be  infected  than  snow  flakes  could  catch 
fire,  or  sunbeams  take  pollution.  But  even 
before  it  was  vitiated,  mere  humanity  was  in 
itself  temptable.  The  perfect  Son  of  Man  was 
in  "  all  points  tempted  as  we  are."  It  was  a 
real  temptation  that  He  suffered.     His  victory 

mplies  this,  for  there  could  have  been  no  victory 
*  Cardiphonia. 


THE  SIXTH  PETITION.  2  I  9 

in  an  imaginary  conflict  with  an  imaginary  foe. 
At  least,  there  is  always  in  our  nature  a  certain 
weakness  to  which  the  tempter  can  make  his 
appeal.  Of  this  weakness  a  thoughtful  writer 
remarks,  "  There  lies  deep  down  in  every  man's 
nature  an  unsuspected  weakness  to  which  temp- 
tation may  make  a  sudden  appeal  with  success, 
and  he  may  do  some  wicked  thing  in  conse- 
quence unlike  his  general  character  altogether. 
The  tempter  may  come,  and  the  tempter  does 
come  in — to  storm  and  command  the  very  cita- 
del of  his  soul.  In  that  instant  the  man  is 
not  himself,  but  another.  He  is  himself  in  so 
far  as  that  he  himself  is  responsible.  He  is 
not  himself,  but  another,  and  that  other  the 
evil  one,  in  so  far  as  that  the  evil  one  is  for  the 
moment  master  in  that  house  of  clay,  and  the 
man  himself  seems  to  be  living,  breathing, 
thinking,  doing  by  substitution.  It  is  then  that 
he  acts  as  he  never  acted  before,  and  never  will 
God  helping  him,  again.  It  is  then  the  great  con- 
tradiction takes  place.  He  will  do  that  to  which 
his  nature  has  most  instinctive  repulsion,  and 
which  will  rob  his  after  life  of  all  tranquillity."* 
Besides  natural  weakness,  we  have  severally 
and  constitutionally,  a  bias  in  the  direction  of 
some  particular  sin.  "  Every  man  is  tempted 
when  he  is  drawn  by  his  own  lust  and  enticed. ""f* 
There  are  moments  when  he  will  feel    drawn, 

*  The  Rev.  Page  Roberts  in  "  Law  and  God." 
t  James  i.  14. 


220  THE  SIXTH  PETITION. 

as  a  vehicle  is  drawn — when  perhaps  some 
propensity  will  pull  him,  as  a  horse  pulls 
towards  its  own  stable,  where  it  gets  what  it 
likes.  This  peril  is  in  his  own  being.  He 
may  go  away  out  of  the  circle  of  most  urgent 
instruments  and  occasions  of  temptation,  but 
he  can  never  go  away  from  himself.  Every 
one  has  a  soul,  and  every  one  has  a  body. 
Once  a  disciple  might  have  said,  "  I  at  least, 
am  safe ;  I  have  seen  the  Lord  ;  I  am  a 
spiritual  man ;  I  am  inspired."  Let  it, 
however,  be  remembered  that  it  was  to 
disciples  who  could  each  say  this  that 
the  alarming  charge  was  given,  "Take  heed 
to  yourselves,  lest  at  any  time  your  hearts 
be  overcharged  with  surfeiting  and  drunken- 
ness, and  cares  of  this  life."*  What  Christ 
said  to  his  own  immediate  followers,  He 
says  with  seven-fold  emphasis  to  us — "Take 
heed  to  yoiirselvts  T 

Preaching  to  Wiltshire  ploughmen,  Augustus 
Hare  says  that  each  man  must  shun  things  that 
tempt  him  to  the  sin  he  himself  most  likes,  and 
must  remember  that  these  things,  though 
perhaps  no  snare  to  another  man,  when  that 
other  man  most  likes  some  other  kind  of  sin — 
may  be  to  himself  full  of  deadly  danger. 

"  What  may  be  no  temptation  to  another  man, 
may,  from  some  weakness  of  character  or  dis- 
*  Luke  xxi.,  34. 


THE  SIXTH  PETITION.  221 

position,  be  a  crafty  snare  to  me.  Therefore  it 
becomes  me  to  avoid  it.  If  you  had  a  ditch  to 
cross  on  your  way  to  work,  and  it  was  so  broad 
that  you  could  not  leap  over  it,  after  trying  and 
tumbling  once  or  twice  perhaps,  you  would  go 
round  by  the  bridge.  It  would  be  no  reason  to 
you  that  neighbour  such  a  one  could  leap  it. 
You  would  say,  He  is  welcome  to  leap  it  then ; 
but  I  can  only  leap  into  it :  I  have  tried  twice 
already :  twice  have  I  only  wetted  myself  and 
dirtied  my  clothes  :  so  I  will  not  run  the  risk 
again !  The  safe  way  over  the  bridge  is  good 
enough  for  me. 

In  like  manner,  if  by  frequenting  such  a  place, 
or  such  a  company,  you  have  fallen  once  or 
twice  into  sin,  listen  not  to  the  tempter  when 
he  bids  you  try  again.  Say  within  yourself:  I 
have  tried  too  often  .  I  will  run  no  further  risk 
of  hurting  and  dirtying  my  soul.  Christ  has 
cleansed  it  with  His  blood  ;  it  is  too  precious  a 
thing  to  be  polluted."  * 

Let  us  apply  the  principle  thus  given  out 
with  such  homely  force  to  certain  things  which 
in  our  day  are  increasingly  connected  with  the 
question  of  temptation.  To  theatricals,  or  to  any 
other  mode  of  popular  amusements.  Is  it  true 
that  all  these  things  are  in  their  essence  wrong } 
Who   says   they   are  .-'   Is  it  true  that  certain 

*  The  Alton  Sermons,  by  Augustus  W.  Hare.  1874, 
pp.  479,  480. 


222  THE  SIXTH  PETITION. 

institutions  for  amusement,  look  to  their  support 
from  the  majority,  must  therefore  please  the 
taste  of  the  majority,  that  majority  having  no 
taste  for  holiness  ?  Is  it  true  that  their  pro- 
prietors must  meet  the  market  or  lose  their 
money  ?  Is  it  true  in  consequence,  that  they  are 
likely  to  hinder  rather  than  help  the  highest 
life  ?  Such  questions  claim  thoughtful  and 
prayerful  consideration,  but  set  them  aside  at 
present,  for  a  question  that  practically  comes 
first — and  that  is,  what  will  be  the  probable 
effect  of  such  recreations  on  yourself  as  a 
Christian  ?  Whatever  dissipates  the  force  or 
chills  down  the  fervour  of  your  devotional  life  ; 
whatever  weakens  your  working  life,  your  teach- 
ing life,  or  your  missionary  life ;  whatever 
indisposes  you  to  read  your  Bible,  whatever 
prevents  you  from  joyfully  inhaling  the  spirit  of 
the  Scriptures  as  a  hot  and  weary  man  drinks 
the  air  of  the  spring  morning  ;  whatever  makes 
infrequent  the  moments  of  Divine  visitation  and 
exalted  spirituality,  the  thoughts  of  clear  criteria 
and  the  flashes  of  revealing  light  by  which  you 
better  understand  yourself,  and  better  under- 
stand your  Saviour;  whatever  makes  the  thought 
of  Christ  fall  like  a  cold  shadow  on  the  sunshine 
of  your  joy ;  whatever  you  would  rather  not 
try  to  thank  God  for,  or  to  ask  a  blessing  on  ; 
whatever  brings  a  chilling  change  from  bright 
and  blissful  faith  to  dull  despondency,  or  froni 


THE  SIXTH  PETITION,  223 

spiritual  manhood  to  second  infancy ;  whatever 
is  the  cause  of  failing  trust,  or  freezing  love,  or 
slackened  service — however  lawful  it  may  be  to 
another  man,  is  not  lawful  for  you.  Recreation 
is  lawful.  Yes,  it  is  lawful  as  the  sparkling  dew, 
lawful  as  the  spring,  lawful  as  the  flowers — but 
says  Richard  Baxter,  "  there  is  no  mirth  like  the 
mirth  of  believers,"  and  any  particular  mode  of 
recreation  that  in  my  own  experience,  still  to 
borrow  his  words, "  impairs  the  mirth  which  faith 
doth  bring  from  the  precious  blood  of  Christ, 
and  from  the  promises  of  the  Word,  and  from 
experiences  of  mercy,  and  from  fore-apprehen- 
sions of  everlasting  blessedness,"  is  no  recreation 
for  me. 

It  would  be  simply  rational  for  any  man 
to  say,  When  I  know,  and  I  ought  to  know, 
what  are  my  own  sinful  propensities,  I  would 
not  of  my  own  will  be  led  within  the  range  of 
what  might  stir  them  into  activity.  There  is 
in  old  Arabic  fable,  the  story  of  a  great  rock 
that  was  a  great  magnet,  drawing  ships,  so  that 
they  were  dashed  into  splinters  on  it.  If  I 
have  been  magnetized  by  a  certain  sin,  I  would 
not  be  led  near  the  loadstone  that  might 
draw  me  into  destruction  by  its  malignant 
potency.  If  I  carry  in  me,  the  gunpowder  of 
some  slumbering  badness,  I  would  not  be  led 
where  sparks  are  flying.  If  I  am  "  Little  Faith" 
bearing   precious  jewels,    I   would  not   be  led 


224  THE  SIXTH  PETITION. 

through  "  Dead  Man's  Lane,''  where  robbers 
lurk.  If  I  am  short-sighted,  I  would  not  be 
led  into  "  the  land  of  pits."  If  I  am  timid,  and 
fear  "  the  power  of  the  dog,"  *  I  would  not  be 
led  near  his  chain,  but  far  as  may  be  beyond 
the  reach  of  his  spring.  If  I  am  constitutionally 
passionate,  I  would  not  be  led  into  the  company 
of  those  who  are  likely  to  put  me  into  a  passion ; 
if  sceptical,  I  would  not  give  myself  to  the 
study  of  sceptical  books ;  if  I  am  vain,  I  would 
not  be  led  through  "  Vanity  Fair ;  "  if  I  am  in 
danger  from  sympathy  with  any  one  particular 
sin,  I  would  avoid  the  familiar  thoughts  that 
slope  the  way  to  it,  as  I  would  keep  away  from 
the  top  of  the  smooth  granite  slope  that  borders 
the  black,  deep  well.  I  would  not  tempt  the 
tempter,  by  bringing  what  is  so  temptable 
directly  under  his  power,  and  would  never  cease 
to  cry  to  our  Father,  "Lead  us  not  into  tempta- 
tion." 

V.  By  this  petition,  we  mean  that  zee  Jiave  no 
will  to  go  into  temptation  unless  it  be  the  will  oj 
God  to  lead  ns  into  it. 

*  Psalm  xxii.  20.  "  I  remember  to  have  read  a  story 
of  one  Gunno,  king  of  the  Danes,  that  having  overcome 
a  people,  he  set  a  dog  over  them  to  be  their  governour  : 
that  is,  he  would  have  his  commands  to  go  out 
under  the  name  of  the  dog,  and  they  should  be  under 
the  government  of  the  dog  ;  this  he  did  in  disdain  and 
indignation  against  those  people  he  overcame.  Much 
more  debasement  is  it  for  a  soul  to  be  under  command 
of  the  devil." — Jeremiah  Burroughs. 


THE  SIXTH  PETITION.  225 

We  have  heard  of  a  man  who  had  unlawful 
possession  of  another  man's  estate,  through 
concealing  the  knowledge  of  the  former  owner's 
last  will,  which  had  unexpectedly  to  him  left 
it  away  to  some  one  else.  He  was  tempted  to 
destroy  it,  but  had  not  quite  made  up  his  mind 
to  do  so.  One  night  he  fought  his  conscience 
down,  kept  his  qualms  under,  and  tried  to  sleep. 
He  even  repeated  the  Lord's  Prayer  to  himself 
when  under  the  sheets  ;  struggling,  however, 
as  he  did  so,  not  to  think  about  the  petition, 
"  Lead  us  not  into  temptation."  Do  we  know 
that  state  of  mind  } 

If  in  uttering  these  words,  we  dare  not  weigh 
their  meaning,  if  we  are  in  the  mood  of  yielding 
to  some  evil  besetment,  and  have  some  dormant 
intention  which  we  would  rather  not  wake  up 
to  look  at — then,  while  in  the  very  act  of  speak- 
ing to  the  Almighty  God  of  truth,  we  say  one 
thing  and  mean  another,  and,  however  uncon- 
sciously, utter  words  of  worship  in  the  spirit  of 
profanity. 

It  is  essential  to  the  reality  of  this,  as  of  the 
connectional  petitions,  that  before  coming  to 
it,  we  should  pray,  "  Thy  will  be  done."  The 
larger  petition  governs  the  smaller.  It  may 
seem  like  inconsistency  first  to  say,  "  Lead  us 
into  temptation  if  it  be  Thy  will;"  then  to  say, 
"  Lead  us  7iot  into  it " — but  there  is  no  incon- 
sistency. It  is  only  akin  to  the  Saviour's  prayer, 
p 


2  26  THE  SIXTH   PETITION. 

when  He  went  into  Gethsemane,  saying  with 
shrinking  and  tremulous  dread,  "  Father,  if  it 
be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me,  neverthe- 
less, not  my  will,  but  Thine  be  done."  The 
innocent  instincts  of  His  appropriated  nature 
shuddered  at  the  cup,  but  were  not  allowed  to 
keep  Him  from  drinking  it,  when  the  Father  put 
it  into  His  hand.  The  spirit  that  offers  this 
petition  in  the  model  prayer,  is  still  a  spirit  that 
will,  if  commanded,  make  us  "  count  it  all  joy 
when  we  fall  into  manifold  temptations,"  while 
the  Lord  is  there.  Jesus  was  led  up  into 
"the  wilderness  to  be  tempted  of  the  devil." 
Led  like  Him,  we  will  venture  to  go  like 
Him,  into  that  which  would  be  in  itself  pain 
the  most  exquisite,  and  peril  the  most  extreme. 
That  which  is  the  leading  power,  will  be  the 
sustaining  power.  He  who  guides,  will  hold. 
While  you  say,  my  soul  abhors  this  place,  you 
will  be  able  to  add,  but  my  God  brought  me 
into  it,  it  is  therefore  the  pathway  of  promise, 
the  thoroughfare  to  the  land  of  triumph.  The 
trial  of  your  faith  Vvill  be  turned  into  a  proof 
of  your  sonship,  for  "  as  many  as  are  led  by  the 
spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  sons  of  God." 

It  is  said  of  Jesus  whose  steps  we  are  to  tread 
in,  that  "  He  being  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  re- 
turned from  Jordan,  and  was  led  by  the  Spirit 
into  the  wilderness."  * 

*  It  is  said  (Matt.  iv.  i),  that  "He  was  led  up,"  {av-nxO-n) 
and  (Luke  iv.  i)  that  "  He  was  led  C^jTei-o)  by  the  Spirit 


THE  SIXTH  PETITION.  22  7 

This  strikes  us  as  a  strong  contrast  to  the 
reckless  rush  and  flippant  levity  with  which 
men  often  plunge  into  dangers  so  great  that  it 
would  need  a  miracle  to  bring  them  out  un- 
scathed. "  Be  ye  filled  with  the  Spirit,"  is  the 
Divine  law  for  us.  Can  we,  when  thus  filled,  go 
from  our  own  preferences  into  the  haunts  of  sin? 
Our  Father  never  sends  His  children  into  them 
on  any  needful  errand,  or  for  any  wise  discipline, 
without  this  preparation.  "  He  never,"  says  an 
old  writer,  "  suffers  His  castles  to  be  besieged 
till  they  be  provisioned."  With  this  equipment, 
it  may  be  His  will  that  we  should  enter  fields 
where  we  have  to  face  the  full  array  of  evil,  and 
brave  the  full  blast  of  storms.  But  however 
charged  with  the  Spirit's  influence,  we  shall  not 
step  into  a  post  of  great  moral  hazard  without 
clear  orders.  Once,  while  William  of  Orange 
was  laying  siege  to  a  town  on  the  Continent, 
an  officer  with  a  message  ventured  to  go  to  the 
spot  where  he  was  in  the  act  of  directing  the 
operation  of  his  gunners.  When  the  message 
was  delivered,  and  the  answer  to  it  received,  he 

into  the  wilderness  to  be  tempted  of  the  devil."  The 
word  means  that  going  into  the  wilderness  was  His  own 
act,  though  not  of  his  own  desire,  but  with  a  will  that 
consented  to  the  will  of  the  Father.  The  word  "  bring  " 
(ei(T€viyT]s)  in  our  prayer  points  to  the  act  of  God  in  taking 
us  into  temptation,  and  in  this  case,  our  consent  of  will 
takes  the  form  of  resignation  rather  than  of  active 
obedience. 


2  28  THE  SIXTH  PETITION. 

still  lingered.  "  Sir,"  said  the  prince,  "  do  you 
know  that  every  moment  you  stand  here  is  at 
the  risk  of  your  life  ?  "  "  I  run  no  more  risk," 
replied  the  gentleman,  "  than  your  highness." 
"  Yes,"  said  the  prince,  "  but  my  duty  brings 
me  here,  and  yours  does  not."  In  a  few  minutes 
a  cannon-ball  struck  the  officer  dead.  While 
only  led  by  our  own  inclination  into  a  risk,  we 
have  no  divine  guarantee  of  protection.  Led 
and  filled  by  God  Himself,  our  souls  are  safe 
anywhere.  Not  only  so,  but  temptations  will 
be  made  subservient  to  the  highest  purposes  of 
profit  to  man  and  glory  to  God.  Overcome, 
they  will  keep  us  closer  to  Him  who  is  leading 
us,  make  us  lowlier  God-ward,  and  more  sym- 
pathetic man -ward.  Victors  who  have  been 
tempted  are  the  wisest  teachers,  and  the  strong- 
est helpers  of  those  who  are  tempted  now. 
Still,  though  the  result  may  be  so  gracious, 
the  process  is  so  trying  that  it  is  right  to  say, 
"  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  spare  me.  It  is  not 
my  own  choice  to  go,  if  it  be  Thy  will  lead  me 
into  some  other  path,  but  if  it  be  Thy  will  to 
lead  me  in  this  I  will  go.  I  will  go  in  the 
strength  of  the  Lord  God,  making  mention  of 
Thy  righteousness  and  that  only." 


X. 

THE  SEVENTH  PETITION. 

"  But  deliver  us  from  evil."  Matt.  vi.  13  ;  Luke  xi.  4. — 
Authorized  Version. 

"But  deliver  us  from  the  evil  one."  Matt.  vi.  13. — 
Revised  Version. 

Omitted  from  the  Gospel  by  Luke. 

We  glory  in  our  old  English  Bible.  The  know- 
ledge of  eternal  life  first  reached  us  through  its 
pages  ;  it  is  our  counsellor ;  it  has  been  our 
solace  in  many  a  trouble ;  and  apart  from  its 
intrinsic  preciousness  as  a  divine  revelation,  its 
mere  style  is  matchless.  The  longer  we  live, 
the  more  do  we  feel  its  serene  grace,  its  moving 
music,  and  its  grand,  antique  simplicity. 

We  have,  however,  no  share  in  the  sentiment 
of  those  who  seem  to  think  that  any  attempt  to 
revise  this  translation,  is  to  take  a  liberty  with 
things  sacred.  The  element  of  sacredness 
belongs  to  the  Word,  not  to  this  or  that  trans- 
lation of  it.  The  first  is  the  gift  of  God,  and  as 
such,  is  perfect  ;  the  second  is  the  work  of  man, 
and  partakes  of  man's  imperfection.  When 
God's  flour  is  ground  in  man's  mill,  "  it  is  apt 


230  THE  SEVENTH  PETITION. 

to  get  mingled  with  grit  from  the  mill-stone,"  * 
and  we  are  always  glad  when  this  can  be  cleared 
out  again.  Perfection  admits  of  no  improve- 
ment, but  scholarship  is  in  its  nature  a  pro- 
gressive thing ;  and  in  no  department  has  it 
been  more  remarkably  progressive  than  in  this. 
When  Erasmus  published  his  Greek  Testament 
in  1516,1  he  had  access  to  only  six  MSS.  t 
Instead  of  six,  we  have  now  more  than  sixteen 
hundred.  Very  ancient  versions  in  other 
languages  have  also  been  found  out  within  this 
period  of  365  years;  still  further  helping  to 
settle  the  true  text.  During  the  same  time 
there  has  been  much  research  into  the  folios  of 
the  Fathers,  where  are  Biblical  quotations  so 
numerous  that  if  the  sacred  MSS.  had  perished, 
most  of  the  Greek  Testament  might  have  been 
recovered  from  these  authorities  alone.  There 
has  been  a  growing  knowledge  of  materials,  and 
a  growing  education  of  power  to  estimate  their 

*  Bengel. 

t  The  New  Testament  in  the  Complutensian  Polyglot 
though  printed  in  15 14,  was  not  pubhshed  till  1522. 

J  Five  of  these  are  now  in  the  public  library  of  Basle, 
and  one  is  in  that  of  the  Prince  of  Oettingen-Wallerstein. 

It  is  said  that  two  of  these  MSS.  he  only  used  for 
occasional  reference.  For  the  gospels,  he  only  had  what 
Dr  Scrivener  calls  "an  inferior  manuscript,"  of  the 
fifteenth  century  ;  for  the  Apocalypse,  a  mutilated  manu- 
script of  the  twelfth  century.  For  the  Acts  and  Epistles 
he  had  a  manuscript  of  the  thirteenth  century. 


THE  SEVENTH  PETITION.  23  I 

value.  The  result  is,  that  "  the  critical  appar- 
atus of  the  New  Testament  has  increased  a 
hundred-fold."  We  who  are  honestly  concerned, 
first  to  know  what  God  really  says,  next  to  know 
what  He  really  means,  eagerly  avail  ourselves  of 
these  helps  ;  and  feel  in  particular  immeasurably 
indebted  to  the  twenty-eight  scholars,  who,  after 
ten  years  of  patient  labour,  have  given  us  the 
last  Revised  Version  of  the  New  Testament. 

Still,  some  of  us  would  have  been  glad  if  a 
few  of  the  alterations  given  in  the  text,  had  only 
been  placed  in  the  margin ;  and  glad  especially 
if  this  had  been  done  here.  The  evil  person, 
and  the  evil  tJiing  are  both  expressed  in  the 
Greek  Testament  by  the  adjective  with  the 
article.  In  the  nominative  and  accusative  cases, 
the  difference  in  the  ending  leaves  no  doubt  as  to 
which  is  meant  ;  but  the  masculine  and  neuter 
of  genitive  and  dative  are  alike.  In  this  instance, 
the  original  words  are  only  these  two — "the 
evil,"  and  we  are  unable  at  present  to  see  just 
cause  for  adding  a  third,  so  as  to  read  "the 
evil  oner  The  change  from  the  abstract  to  the 
personal  is  not  imperative  from  the  termination 
of  the  Greek  word  which  in  this  petition  we 
have  been  accustomed  to  render  "evil;"  nor 
does  the  word  for  "  deliver  "  require  it,  nor  the 
preposition  for  "  from."  In  the  Revised  Version 
of  2  Tim.  iv.  18.  we  read,  "  the  Lord  will  deliver 
me  from  everyevil  work,  and  will  save  me  untoHis 


232  THE  SEVENTH  PETITION. 

heavenly  kingdom;''  yet  the  verb,  the  preposition, 
and  the  adjective  for  "  evil,"  are  all  the  same  as 
in  the  Lord's  Prayer.  In  the  Septuagint,  the 
phrase  is  constantly  employed  in  the  abstract, 
never  in  the  personal  sense.  It  is  said,  indeed, 
that  the  Greek  Fathers  use  it  in  the  latter  sense, 
but  on  the  other  hand,  it  might  be  contended 
that  the  only  expositors  thus  quoted,  lived  two 
hundred  years  after  the  Apostles  ;  and  the 
meaning  of  the  word  should,  we  think,  be  settled 
not  by  the  usage  of  their  day,  but  by  that  of 
the  day  when  Christ  uttered  it,  if  that  could  be 
ascertained.*  Upon  the  whole,  the  change 
made  by  the  revisers  expresses  but  a  supposed 
probability,  and  not  an  ascertained  or  ascer- 
tainable fact.  It  is  no  presumption  to  say  this, 
for  the  most  competent  scholars  are  divided  in 
opinion  about  the  matter.^     Feeling  must  not 

*  Origen  tells  us  in  his  treatise  De  Oratiojic^  that  the 
words  dXXa  pvaai.  tj/jlols  awb  rod  irovripov  are  not  a  part  of  the 
prayer  as  found  in  the  gospel  of  Luke.  We  believe  that 
no  reference  is  to  be  found  to  this  in  the  writings  of  any 
Greek  Father  before  his  time.     He  died  about  a.d.  254. 

t  Among  the  critical  and  textual  expositors  who  are  in 
favour  of  adopting  as  the  reading,  "  The  evil  one,"  are 
Doddridge,  Adam  Clarke,  Olshausen,  Mayer,  Godet,  Keim, 
Ebrard,  Samuel  Davidson,  Plumptre,  Wordsworth,  Elli- 
cott.  Among  those  who  decide  for  "  the  evil,"  Tyndale,  the 
Geneva  Version,  Isaac  Barrow,  Weiss,  Keil,  Ewald,  Tho- 
luck,Bleek,  Lange,  Stier,Mansel,  Canon  Cook, and  Alford. 

Alford  thinks  that  the  general  meaning  of  the  two 
closing  petitions  is  this  :  "  Bring  us  not  into  conflict  with 


THE  SEVENTH  PETITION.  2  7,3 

colour  judgment.  Only  the  laws  of  language 
can  settle  what  is  only  a  question  of  language. 
But  this  is  a  question  which  these  laws  alone  are 
not  competent  to  settle.  Mere  grammar  would 
allow  of  either  translation.  The  connection, 
together  with  appearances  of  probability  must 
help  us  to  decide  as  to  which  of  the  two  is  most 
likely  to  be  right,  and  thus  ruled,  we  are  in- 
clined still  to  vote  for  the  common  reading. 
We  are  convinced  of  its  natural  force  and 
reasonableness.  It  is  exactly  what  might  have 
been  expected  ;  it  accords  with  the  ideal  of  a 
prayer  with  this  comprehensive  scope,  and  this 
view  to  universal  use.  The  prayer  has  in  it  no 
personal  term  excepting  the  invocation,  and  it 
would  indeed  have  been  surprising  to  find  it 
end  with  this  appeal  against  a  personal  enemy; 
it  would  have  been  stranger  still  to  find  that 
all  through  we  had  been  travelling  up  to  this 
climax,  that  we  should  end  in  a  cry  for  deliver- 

evil,  but  rather  deliver  (rid)  us  from  it  altogether."  He 
regards  the  last  petition  "as  expressing  the  deep  desire  of 
all  Christian  hearts  to  be  delivered  from  a/l  evil  (for  toO 
irov-qpoh  is  here  certainly  neuter ;  the  introduction  of  the 
mention  of  'the  evil  one'  would  here  be  quite  incon- 
gruous and  even  absurd),  these  words  form  a  seventh  and 
most  affecting  petition,  reaching  far  beyond  the  last. 
They  are  the  expression  of  the  yearning  for  redemption 
of  the  sons  of  God  (Rom.  viii.,  23),  and  so  are  fitly 
placed  at  the  end  of  the  prayer,  and  as  the  sum  and 
substance  of  the  personal  petitions." 


234  THE  SEVENTH  PETITION. 

ance  from  one  solitary  wicked  spirit,  and  that 
the  very  last  word  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  should  be 
the  one  that  stands  for  the  devil.  Jesus,  we  think, 
was  unlikely  to  make  His  last  word  one  of  terror 
on  account  of  his  conquered  and  humiliated  foe. 
I.  We  shall  try  to  identify  "  the  evil  "  here 
named.  The  words  here  descriptive  of  what  we 
seek  to  be  delivered  from,  are  only  these — "  the 
evil."  Our  Authorised  Version  reads  ^' evil'' 
simply ;  but  in  the  original  there  is  the  article, 
Take  notice  also  that  this  word  "evil"  is,  as 
grammarians  say,  in  the  singular  case.  Christ 
names  "  the  evil."  He  seems  to  score  the  word, 
and  to  speak  it  in  capitals:  "The  evil!" 
He  who  sees  all  things,  past,  present  and  to 
come,  in  all  their  deep  meanings,  vast  connec- 
tions and  mystic  mighty  spells  ;  and  Who 
knows  the  nature  and  history  of  all  evils  in  the 
darkness  and  under  the  sun,  here  separates  and 
singles  out  one  thing  from  all  the  rest,  and  calls 
it  the  evil.  As  if  amidst  the  millions,  this  is  the 
only  one  worth  a  notice  or  a  name,  amidst  all  the 
present  perils  of  our  being,  this  one  stands  out  in 
such  dread,  lurid,  lone  pre-eminence,  that  all 
the  rest  are  nothing  to  it.  It  is  the  one  to  fear, 
the  one  to  fight  with,  the  one  to  be  held  in 
perpetual  abhorrence,  and  against  which  we  are 
to  make  perpetual  prayer.  It  is  the  one  arch 
mischief  and  master  sorrow  of  humanity,  for 
deliverance  from  whose  vassalage  we  should  be 


THE  SEVENTH  PETITION.  235 

ready  to  part  with  all  else  that  we  most  care 
for.  "  If  thy  right  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it 
out,  and  cast  it  from  thee  ;  for  it  is  profitable  for 
thee  that  one  of  thy  members  should  perish,  and 
not  that  thy  whole  body  should  be  cast  into  hell. 
And  if  thy  right  hand  offend  thee,  cut  it  off,  and 
cast  it  from  thee ;  for  it  is  profitable  for  thee 
that  one  of  thy  members  should  perish,  and  not 
that  thy  whole  body  should  be  cast  into  hell."* 
"The  evil."  It  is  a  terrific  phrase  !  Like  an  alarm 
sounded  over  a  congregation  of  sleeping  spirits, 
it  should  ring  them  up,  make  them  all  broad 
awake  in  a  moment,  and  listen  as  if  they  had 
never  listened  before !  We  say  that  the  evil  is 
Sin.     What  else  can  it  be  } 

Not  the  world.  Language,  sometimes  in 
books,  sometimes  "  floating  on  the  lips  of  the 
wise,"  gives  the  impression  that  some  disciples 
think  that  by  "the  evil"  Christ  means  the  world. 
What  world  }  The  world  which  at  the  call  of 
God,  sprang  beautiful  and  perfect  from  the 
maze  of  primitive  confusion  .''  The  world  which 
at  the  beginning,  He  six  times  over  pronounced 
to  be  very  good  .-*  The  world  out  of  whose 
seeds,  roots  and  hidden  forces,  grow  into 
lovely  and  wonderful  expression,  the  thoughts 
of  God  Almighty  .-•  The  world  out  of  whose 
forms  prophets  drew  their  imageries,  and  the 
gospel  its  types }  Do  they  mean  the  world 
*  Matthew  v.  29,  y:). 


236  THE  SEVENTH  PETITION. 

of  social  existence  ?  Many  think  so.  They 
would  indeed  disclaim  the  old  ascetic  doctrine 
that  we  have  lately  hinted  at.  They  love  the 
landscapes  and  the  seasons,  because  they  are 
God's  handiwork,  and  study  natural  life,  archi- 
tecture, and  history  with  delight,  because  these 
aid  them  in  marking  the  evolutions  of  the  all  per- 
vading Mind  ;  but  they  turn  away  from  the  foci 
of  human  life,  and  exclaim  with  Cowper,  "  God 
made  the  country,  but  man  made  the  town." 

No !  God  made  the  town  as  well  as  the 
country.  "  He  who  gave  to  the  bee  or  the  bird 
or  the  beaver  instincts  for  their  own  wonderful 
works  and  ways,  has  also  furnished  the  human 
mind  with  those  faculties  and  tendencies  which, 
under  favouring  circumstances,  develope  in  rail- 
ways and  palaces  as  surely  as  the  beaver-mind 
developes  in  moles  and  embankments,  or  as  the 
bee-mind  developes  in  combs  and  hexagons. 
The  skill  is  Jehovah's  ;  in  eveiy  fair  work  of 
skill,  every  fine  result  of  calculation,  and  more 
especially  in  everything  that  helps  happy 
development  of  human  life,  you  ought  to  recog- 
nise the  divine  perfections  as  their  ultimate 
origin  no  less  than  if  you  read  on  every  object 
'  Holiness  to  the  Lord.'  In  art,  science, 
machinery,  intellectual  achievement,  an  enlight- 
ened disciple  may  discern  the  manifestations 
of  that  mind  which  is  '  wonderful  in  counsel,  ex- 
cellent in  working,'  and  so  far  as  skill,  adaptation 


THE  SEVENTH  PETITION.  237 

and  elegance  are  involved,  will  hail  the  Eternal 
Builder  Himself  as  the  Maker  of  the  town." 

In  the  prayer  which  sums  up  His  intercession 
for  all  disciples,  our  High  Priest  draws  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  world  and  the  evil  in  it. 
"  I  pray  not  that  Thou  shouldest  take  them  out 
of  the  world,  but  that  Thou  shouldest  keep  them 
from  the  evil." 

If  you  want  to  know  what  this  evil*  is,  ask 
one  who,  more  than  any  other  of  those  immortals, 
known  as  inspired  men,  was  most  at  home  in 
divine  thoughts,  and  he  will  say,  "  Ye  have  over- 
come the  evil  one.  Love  not  the  world,  neither 
the  things  that  are  in  the  world.  If  any  man 
love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in 
him.  For  all  that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of  the 
flesh,  and  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the  vain  glory 
of  life,  is  not  of  the  Father,  but  is  of  the  world.". 

Affliction  is  not  "  tJie  evil."  It  would  be 
another  thing  to  say  it  is  not  an  evil.  We  call 
that  ancient,  not  a  stoic  merely,  but  a  mono- 

*  John  xvii.  15.  Here,  according  to  the  Revised  Ver- 
sion, we  are  to  read  "  the  evil  one,"  but  as  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer  the  meaning  of  6  Trof  T^pis  has  to  be  determined  solely 
by  the  requirements  of  the  context,  and  these  appear  to 
me  to  decide  for  the  old  reading  rather  than  for  the  new. 
We  are  quite  unable  to  think  that  our  Lord,  in  words 
spoken  when  leaving  the  world,  prayed  so  emphatically 
that  His  disciples  might  be  kept  from  him  whom  He  had 
already  conquered,  and  whom  He  had  seen  "fall  like  light- 
ning from  Heaven."    By  the  evil  He  must  have  meant  sin. 


23b  THE  SEVENTH  PETITION. 

maniac,  who  cried  when  in  mortal  agony — "  Oh 
pain,  pain,  'tis  to  no  purpose  this,  thou  shalt 
never  make  me  confess  that  thou  art  an  evil." 
We  own  pain  to  be  an  evil,  poverty  an  evil, 
slander  an  evil,  every  kind  of  sorrow  an  evil. 
And  when  all  these  seem  to  burst  upon  a  man 
in  one  driving  storm,  he  may  naturally 
cry  "  Innumerable  evils  have  compassed  me 
about."  "  From  lightning  and  tempest ;  from 
plague,  pestilence,  and  famine ;  from  battle  and 
murder,  and  from  sudden  death,  good  Lord 
deliver  us."  This  language  of  the  Litany  is 
the  dictate  of  nature,  and  has  the  sanction  of 
grace ;  but  we  must  only  use  it  in  continuance 
of  the  secret  prayer,  "  Thy  will  be  done."  For 
lightning  and  tempest,  plague,  pestilence  and 
famine,  and  all  other  evils,  belong  to  the  system 
in  which  "we  know  that  all  things  work  together 
for  good  to  them  that  love  God,  to  them  who 
are  the  called  according  to  His  purpose."  The 
plan  of  the  divine  Disciplinarian  is  not  to  take 
us  out  of  troubles,  but  to  make  troubles  our 
teachers.  Even  worldly  wisdom  can  see  that  it 
is  often  a  grander  thing  to  strengthen  the  back 
than  to  lighten  the  burden  on  it ;  to  bring  out 
the  steel  of  the  arm  than  to  lessen  the  work  it 
has  to  do  ;  to  make  a  ship  fit  for  a  hurricane 
than  to  keep  it  for  ever  in  a  dead  sea.  Under 
the  rule  of  the  spirit,  such  ends  do  many  of 
these  evils  work,  and  we  must  have  a  care  how 


THE  SEVENTH  PETITION.  239 

we  pray  to  be  delivered  from^  them,  lest,  such 
prayers  being  answered,  deliverance  should  itself 
be  an  evil. 

A  "tribulum"  is  a  flail;*  "tribulation"  is 
only  the  process  ot  using  it,  but  the  corn  is 
brought  under  that  process  for  good  and  not 
for  evil.     Hear  the  song  of  a  Puritan  poet  : — 

"  Till  from  the  straw  the  flail  the  corn  doth  beat 
Until  the  chaff  be  purged  from  the  wheat, 
Yea,  till  the  mill  the  grains  in  pieces  tear, 
The  richness  of  the  flour  will  scarce  appear  ; 
So,  till 'men's  persons  great  afflictions  touch, 
If  worth  hefoiend  their  worth  is  not  so  much, 
Because  like  wheat  in  straw  they  have  not  yet 
That  value  which  in  threshing  they  may  get. 
Until  the  bruising  flail  of  God's  corrections 
Have  threshed  out  of  us  our  vain  affections  ; 
Till  these  corruptions  which  do  misbecome  us 
Are  by  Thy  sacred  spirit  winnowed  from  us  ; 
Until  from  us  the  straw  of  worldly  treasures — 
Till  all  the  dusty  chaff  of  empty  pleasures — 
Yea,  till  his  flail  upon  us  He  doth  lay 
To  thresh  the  husk  of  this  our  flesh  away. 
And  leave  the  soul  uncovered  ;  nay,  yet  more. 
Till  God  shall  make  our  very  spirit  poor, 
We  shall  not  up  to  highest  wealth  aspire  ; 
But  then  we  shall ;  and  that  is  my  desire."  t 

Only  as  you  call  a  flail  evil,  that  separates 
the  grain  from  the  chaff;  a  wheel  evil  that 
grinds  jewels  to  burn  in  a  crown;    a  knife  evil 

*  Virg.  Geor.  I.,  164. 
t  George  Wither. 


240  THE  SEVENTH   PETITION. 

that  prunes  a  tree  ;  a  tree  evil  that  bears  good 
fruit ;  a  plough  evil  whose  colter  crashes  through 
the  hard  soil,  opens  it  to  the  chemistry  of  nature, 
and  makes  it  a  soft,  porous,  receptive  seed-plot 
for  the  harvest ;  the  medicine  evil  that  brings 
back  the  colour  of  health  to  the  white  face,  and 
the  flash  of  gladness  to  the  dim  eye  ;  the  hand 
evil  that  snatches  back  a  heedless  child  from 
the  nest  of  the  serpent,  or  the  lip  of  the  river, 
just  in  time  to  save  its  life — only  in  this  qualified 
sense  can  you  call  an  affliction  an  evil.  Out 
of  our  greatest  sorrows  grow  our  greatest  joys. 
The  worst  of  all  these  is  not  evil  itself ;  not  all 
these  together  could  make  what  is  here  set  down 
as  "  the  evil." 

It  is  not  death.  With  soft  step  and  by 
mysterious  ways,  the  last  enemy  may  approach 
us.  We  may  come  slowly  into  his  power 
without  knowing  it.  Indeed,  the  captive  may 
not  for  a  long  time  be  aware  that  it  is  he  who 
is  holding  him.  He  may  say,  "What  is  this 
freezing,  malignant  presence  }  This  pain,  how 
is  it  to  end }  Tell  me,  can  this  be  death  .'' 
Into  what  unknown  land  is  this  fearful  thing 
carrying  me  .'' " 

A  little  blind  child,  close  clasped  up  against 
her  father,  was  carried  by  him  into  a  room  in 
a  strange  house.  One  who  was  in  the  room, 
stepped  quietly  up,  unclasped  his  arms,  and 
without  saying  a  word,  or  making  a  sign,  lifted 


THE  SEVENTH  PETITION.  24  T 

the  child  away.  "  You  seem  not  to  be  much 
frightened,"  said  the  father ;  "  do  you  know 
who  has  you  ?  "  "  No,"  she  said,  "  but  I  am 
not  afraid,  for  I  know  you  know  who  has  me,"* 
Like  that  little  child,  though  in  the  grasp  of 
mystery,  while  I  am  near  my  Father,  "  I  will 
trust,  and  not  be  afraid." 

To  those,  indeed,  who  are  not  ready,  it  is  a 
horror.  They  only  know  death  as  life's  great 
foe,  and  have  no  antidote  to  its  natural  re- 
pellency.  Fixing  our  thoughts  on  certain 
refusers  of  Christ,  we  say,  "  O  God,  spare  them  ! 
Let  them  not  see  the  face  of  Death  yet !  Spare 
them,  '  that  they  may  gather  strength,  before 
they  go  hence,  and  are  no  more  seen  ! '  Spare 
them  awhile,  though  to  suffer ;  spare  them  that 
if  even  brought  by  the  discipline  of  sorrow  they 
may  come  to  Thee,  that  they  may  have  life  ! " 

Once,  in  the  days  of  the  Scottish  Covenanters, 
when  a  congregation  met  in  a  great  green  cup 
of  wild  heather,  while  watchers  were  posted  on 
peaks  of  the  round  rim  above  ;  suddenly  an 
alarm  was  given  ;  bibles  were  shut,  swords 
were  snatched  out  of  their  sheaths,  the 
dropping  shots  told  that  soldiers  were  close 
upon  the  spot,  and  that  in  a  minute  or  two 
there  would  be  a  battle.  Then,  the  pastor 
threw  up  his  hands,  and  cried,  "  Lord,  spare  the 
green,  and  take  the  ripe ! "  So  now,  when 
^Mentioned  by  Dr  Ciilross. 

Q 


242  THE  SEVENTH  PETITION. 

Death's  troops  are  on  us,  and  the  alarm  has  been 
rung,  we  would  pray,  "  Lord,  spare  the  green, 
and  take  the  ripe !  Take  us,  for  whom  to 
die  would  be  gain  ;  spare  those  for  whom  it 
would  only  be  loss,  and  this  once,  deliver  them 
from  this  evil !  " 

On  the  other  hand,  to  a  man  whose  heart  is 
ready  and  whose  time  has  come,  going  out  of 
this  world,  is  only  going  out  of  evil,  and  becom- 
ing in  the  flash  of  a  moment  sinless,  sorrowless 
and  deathless.  Death  means  perfection  for  ever 
and  progress  for  ever.  The  thing  that  to  others 
would  be  the  worst,  is  to  Him  the  best.  Arch- 
bishop Leighton,  when  once  raised  from  a  bed 
of  sickness,  which  everyone  thought  would  have 
been  his  bed  of  death,  looked  sorry,  and  when 
asked  why  .-'  said,  "  I  thought  my  voyage  was 
over,  that  I  had  done  with  sin,  and  that  I  was 
about  to  cast  anchor ;  but  now,  though  I  had 
reached  the  harbour's  mouth,  I  find  myself  once 
more  driven  out  to  sea."  If,  unlike  that  holy 
man,  we  still  feel  some  natural  fear  of  the  enemy, 
let  us  seek  through  Christ  the  power  that  will 
make  us  face  our  fears,  that  will  make  us  do  the 
holy  right,"  come  what  may,  breathing  the  spirit 
of  Luther,  who,  as  he  set  out  at  the  risk  of  his 
life,  to  make  a  great  confession  of  faith,  said,  "  I 
really  am  afraid  of  Death,  but  there  are  things 
worse  than  Death,  and  if  I  die,  I  die." 

Sin  is  "  the  evil," — we  can  accept  no  other 


THE  SEVENTH  PETITION.  243 

conclusion.  This  is  not  because  we  have  sym- 
pathy with  many,  who,  while  calling  the  Bible 
the  standard  of  faith,  are  still  apt  to  say,  "  Mind 
yourself ;  never  mind  Satan  :  the  only  Satan  you 
have  to  fear  is  Sin."  When  we  mark  the  grow- 
ing tendency  of  men  to  connect  the  idea  of 
Satan  with  comic  associations,  to  use  the  name 
for  enhancing  the  sparkle  of  festive  speech,  or 
to  toss  it  about  like  a  mere  plaything  of  poetic 
fancy ;  we  are  marking  one  of  the  alarming 
signs  of  the  times.  Such  triflers  trifle  with  one 
of  their  most  terrible  perils.  Such  mutations 
of  sacred  and  tremendous  words  we  look  upon 
with  wonder,  and  mourn  over  as  the  sin  of 
trifling  with  God's  great  revelations.  You 
smile  perhaps  ;  but  depend  upon  it,  the  "  evil 
one "  is  a  real  enemy,  from  whom  you  are  in 
real  danger.  He  may  laugh  at  you,  but  it  may 
be  death  for  you  to  laugh  at  him. 

With  all  this,  we  hold  that  the  present  passage 
brings  before  us  an  evil  even  more  terrible. 
"  Brethren,  what  made  the  devil  a  devil }  Noth- 
ing but  sin."  So  said  a  famous  leader  in  the 
"Assembly  of  Divines;"  and  we  are  of  his 
opinion.  Sin  is  the  evil  that  makes  the  "  evil 
one  "  what  he  is.  We  find  no  evil  in  the  world 
of  souls  of  which  it  is  not  the  spring.  It  may 
may  sometimes  look  like  a  little  thing,  but  it  is 
a  seed,  and  all  the  future  forests  of  hell  are  in  it. 
Sin    is  "damnation  in    its  causes."     It  is  evil  in 


2  44  THE  SEVENTH  PETITION. 

itself,  and  nothing  but  evil  can  come  of  it.  If 
we  read  our  instructions  correctly,  we  are  here 
taught  to  pray  that  we  may  be  delivered  from 
"  the  evil,"  not  simply  from  one  who  tempts  us 
to  it.  One  glance  at  it  inspires  the  cry,  "  O  God, 
give  what  Thou  wilt,  take  what  Thou  wilt  away, 
but  deliver  us  from  the  evil !"  * 

11.  We  shall  proceed  to  some  notes  on  the 
Petition  for  deliverance. 

I.  In  offering  this  petition  we  have  still  to 
keep  in  mind  the  ivJioIe  connection.  Here  are 
three  prayers,  all  different,  all  in  vital  con- 
tinuity, each  having  reference  to  sin,  and  one 
should  not  be  offered  without  connecting  it  with 
the  others. 

*  "There  is  no  good  at  all  in  sin.  First,  there  is  no 
good  of  Entity  or  Being  :  God  hath  a  Being,  and  every- 
thing that  hath  a  being,  hath  some  good  in  it,  because  it 
is  of  God  :  but  sin  is  a  Non-Etitity ;  a  no  being  :  it  is 
rather  the  deprivation  of  a  Being  than  any  being  at  all ; 
and  here  is  a  great  mystery  of  iniquity,  that  what  is  a 
Non-Entity,  should  have  such  a  mighty  efficacy  to  trouble 
heaven  and  earth.  Secondly,  it  hath  no  good  of  Causality: 
that  is,  sin  is  so  evil  that  it  can  bring  forth  no  good. 
Afflictions  do  bring  forth  good.  Sin  is  such  an  evil  that 
it  cannot  be  made  good  nor  an  instrument  for  good. 
When  God  brings  good  out  of  sin,  he  does  so  occasionally, 
not  instritnientally.  An  instrument  gives  some  efficacy 
towards  the  effect,  but  sin  has  in  itself  not  even  an  instru- 
mental efficacy  towards  a  good  effect,  as  afflictions  have  ; 
though  God  may  take  occasion  to  bring  good  out  of  sin 
committed,  he  never  makes  sin  itself  an  instrument  of 
good."   Jeremiah  Burroughs  on ''The  Evil  of  Evils."  1654. 


THE  SEVENTH  PETITION.  245 

Connect  this  for  instance,  with  tJie  prayer 
for  forgiveness.  The  "sins,"  also  called  the 
"debts,"  for  which  we  ask  forgiveness,  are  the 
formations  and  activities  of  that  which  is  here 
called  "  to  the  evil."  Some  suppliants  seem  to 
be  concerned  only  that  they  may  have  for- 
giveness, but  sin  itself  seems  to  give  them 
but  little  concern.  Although  they  take  deep 
interest  in  their  own  spiritual  symptoms  ;  they 
are  nervous  rather  than  penitent,  and  what  they 
want  is  simple  impunity.  They  will  tell  you 
that  they  glory  in  the  cross,  because  the  right- 
eousness of  Jesus  there  "  finished,"  is  the  only 
righteousness  that  will  satisfy  the  justice  of  God, 
and  save  the  soul  of  man.  They  watch  the 
Lamb  of  God,  not  as  bearing  away  sin,  but 
simply  the  consequejices  of  sin.  Like  the  priest 
of  old,  who  in  the  name  of  the  people,  laid  his 
hand  over  the  head  of  the  scape-goat,  and  cere- 
monially transferred  their  sins  to  it ;  they  in 
fancy,  put  a  hand  on  the  mystic  burden-bearer, 
and  think  with  a  selfishness  that  passes  for 
Christian  joy,  that  their  sins  are  now  clean  for- 
given and  taken  for  ever  out  of  sight.  This  is 
the  one  thing  they  seem  to  think  of,  or  to  care 
for.  But  just  as  might  have  been  expected,  in 
this  standard  prayer  for  the  use  of  sinners,  we 
are  solemnly  taught  not  only  to  pray  for  the 
forgiveness  of  sins,  but  for  deliverance  from 
"  the  evil  "  out  of  which  our  sins  have  sprung. 


246  THE  SEVENTH  PETITION. 

Connect  this  particularly  with  the  prayer 
against  temptation.  In  being  taught  to  say, 
"  Lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver 
us  from  evil,"  we  are  taught  to  seek  that  we 
may  be  led  out  of  the  way  of  what  might 
tempt  to  sin,  only  that  we  may  be  delivered 
from  sin  itself  As  we  speak,  we  shudder  at 
that  thing  of  awful  malignity,  to  save  us  from 
which  the  Redeemer  died  ;  and  remember  that 
the  salvation  consists  not  merely  in  remission 
of  its  penalty,  but  also  in  rescue  from  its 
power. 

2.  We  offer  this  prayer  that  Jesus  is  the 
meditim  of  deliverance.  This  thought  must 
run  through  each  successive  petition  from  the 
very  first.  We  say  "  Our  Father  "  in  accord- 
ance with  the  rule,  "  I  am  the  Way,  the 
Truth,  and  the  Life  ;  no  man  cometh  unto  the 
Father  but  by  me."  We  say,  "  Hallowed  be 
Thy  name"  through  Him  who  says  "I  have 
declared  Thy  name,  and  will  declare  it."  We 
say,  "  Thy  kingdom  come ''  through  Him  who 
has  said,  "  All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heaven 
and  in  earth."  We  say,  "  Thy  will  be  done," 
trusting  inthe  "Second  Adam"  who  "quickeneth 
whom  He  will  " ;  and  who  works  within  us  to 
"  will  and  to  do."  We  say,  "  Give  us  this  day 
our  daily  bread  "  through  Him  who  is  the 
"  Bread  of  Life,"  and  in  whom  we  have  all  the 
promises.     We    say,    "  Forgive    us    our    sins," 


THE  SEVENTH  PETITION.  24/ 

looking  for  this  forgiveness  through  His  blood, 
according  to  the  riches  of  His  grace."  We  say, 
"Lead  us  not  into  temptation,"  trusting  the 
high  priest  who  was  "  in  all  points  tempted 
like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin,"  We  say, 
"Deliver  us  from  evil"  through  Him  who  once 
cried,  "  Deliver  them  from  going  down  to  the 
pit."  All  through  the  phrases  of  the  prayer 
we  remember  Christ  as  the  channel  of  its 
acceptance.  At  the  time  this  prayer  was  de- 
livered there  was  a  necessary  reticence  as  to 
the  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  Gospel.  These 
doctrines  could  not  be  fully  shown  until  the 
facts  on  which  they  were  founded  were  finished 
on  the  Cross,  and  lighted  up  by  the  glory  of 
the  Pentecostal  day ;  but,  revealed  or  un- 
revealed,  he  was,  from  the  time  when  the  evil 
came  into  the  world,  the  one  Deliverer. 

3.  This  prayer  specially  fits  the  lips  of 
christians  in  a  time  when  old  sins  seem  to  recover 
new  pozver.  Long  after  words  of  Divine  for- 
giveness have  filled  our  souls  with  sovereign 
tranquillity  unspeakable ;  and  after  Christ  has 
given  us  the  right  to  say,  "  Now  are  we  the 
sons  of  God,"  we  may  find  a  sad  need  for  this 
petition.  The  mystery  of  grace  descends  into 
us,  not  to  change  the  nature  of  "  the  evil  that 
dwellcth  in  us,"  but  to  fight  it  down,  to  keep  it 
under,  and  at  length  to  destroy  it  utterly. 
Whatever  essence  is  evil  once,  is  evil  for  ever. 


248  THE  SEVENTH  PETITION. 

The  old  nature  is  still  the  old,  unconverted  and 
inconvertible.  It  fights  holiness  to  the  last,  so 
that  the  dying  bed  is  often  part  of  the  battle- 
field, and  the  dying  frame  a  castle  to  be 
stormed.  Between  the  first  day  of  grace  and  the 
first  day  of  glory  there  may  be  many  an  alarm. 
Even  now,  we  may  be  recalling  the  memory  of 
a  crisis,  when  the  battle  seemed  to  waver,  the 
tide  to  turn,  and  hope  to  be  almost  lost.  The 
most  resolute  soldier  and  most  exalted  saint, 
has  had  most  to  feel  the  truth  of  this.  While 
perhaps  one  of  "  the  saints  at  Rome  "  was 
mourning  over  the  evil  that  still  dwelt  in  his 
own  heart,  and  saying  of  Paul — "  Blessed  man  ; 
his  spirit  seems  to  be  always  in  heaven  ;  what 
can  chill  his  burning  love,  or  ruffle  his  serene 
repose  .-*  Would  that  I  could  be  just  like 
him  ! "  he  Avho  was  so  envied  was  at  this 
very  time  inditing  the  confession,  "  I  delight 
in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man  ;  but 
I  see  another  law  in  my  members,  warring 
against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me 
into  captivity  to  the  law  which  is  in  my  mem- 
bers. O  wretched  man  that  I  am !  Who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? "  * 

The  battle  takes  dift"erent  forms  and  phrases. 

Sometimes   "  the   evil "    is   practically  a   great 

spiritual  dulness.     We  "  cleave  to  the  dust "  ; 

try  as  we  may,  we  cannot  rouse  ourselves.     We 

*  Rom.  vii.  22,  23,  24. 


THE  SEVENTH  PETITION.  249 

kneel,  and  all  on  a  sudden,  as  if  our  kneeling 
had  been  the  signal,  the  mind  is  crowded  with 
frivolities  or  crushed  with  cares.  We  speak, 
but  we  seem  to  speak  into  vacancy,  prayer  is 
mechanical  as  the  movement  of  a  mill,  and 
though  all  our  heaven  depended  on  our  prayer, 
we  feel  as  though  we  could  not  pray.  We  try 
to  read,  but  the  book  is  a  blank.  We  try  to 
work,  but  the  spirit  is  gone  out  of  us.  We  try 
to  realise  the  Unseen,  we  try  and  fail.  We  seem 
to  see  and  hear  and  speak  only  with  the  body, 
not  with  the  soul.  The  soul  is  in  a  dead  calm. 
"  No  stir  ill  the  air,  no  stir  in  the  sea, 
The  ship  is  as  still  as  a  ship  can  be." 
This  is  our  story,  and  our  thought  is,  better 
the  wild  hurricane  than  the  pestilential  quiet. 
What  ails  us  .''  Are  we  growing  torpid  under  a 
spell .''  "  Deliver  us  from  the  evil."  At  other 
times  the  evil  within  us  suddenly  breaks  into 
action.  Every  man  has  some  weak  point  on 
which  evil  is  always  at  work,  in  which  he  is 
always  in  danger  of  giving  way,  and  at. which  it 
is  always  possible  for  some  evil  habit  to  begin. 
One  is  naturally  apt  to  be  frivolous,  another  to 
be  exaggerative,  another  to  be  morose,  another 
to  brag  of  what  he  has  done,  another  to  do 
nothing,  another  to  be  too  fond  of  money,  an- 
other of  scandal,  one  was  formerly  possessed 
by  the  demon  of  a  bad  temper,  "  mean,  con- 
temptible, and  unjust,  as  any  of  the  peerage  of 


250  THE  SEVENTH  TETITION. 

hell."  The  cast  out  sin  that  was  once  master 
will  be  always  trying  to  recover  lost  ascendancy ; 
and  though  the  new  life  loathes  that  besetting 
sin  to  very  sickness,  there  is  still  left  a  nature 
in  sympathy  with  it,  through  the  treachery  of 
which  the  heart  may  yield  to  it  a  little.  With 
every  new  indulgence  its  demands  will  be  more 
imperious,  its  spells  more  seductive;  still  yield- 
ing by  little  and  little,  a  day  may  come  when 
the  man  finds  that  his  power  is  gone.  He  is 
surprised  into  a  snare,  and  is  all  at  once  a  be- 
numbed and  helpless  captive,  soon  to  wake  up 
in  the  consciousness  of  a  sorrow  that  drowns  all 
the  world  in  darkness.  Though  he  may  fall 
into  sin,  no  saved  man  can  live  in  it,  yet  he 
may  feel  as  if  he  never  could  escape  from  it, 
and  as  if  "  the  evil  "  that  has  now  fastened  on 
him  will  not  be  shaken  off.  In  the  oldest  of 
all  known  languages,  the  word  "  throttler" — the 
old  word  for  serpent,  is  the  word  also  used  for 
sin.  Like  the  serpent  in  that  antique  marble 
so  familiar  to  us — turning,  twining,  and  clasping 
round  Laocoon  and  his  sons — so  "  the  evil  " 
twines  round  the  soul,  fastens  with  deadly 
clench,  strikes  to  sting,  and  makes  him  cry, 
"  Who  shall  deliver  me  ?  "  * 

*  The  serpent  was  called  aid  in  Sanskrit.  The  root  is 
all,  or  anil,  which  means  to  press  together,  to  choke,  to 
throttle.  Here  the  distinguishing  mark  from  which  the 
serpent  was  named,  was  his  throttling,  and  alii  meant 


THE  SEVENTH  PETITION.  25  I 

4.  Our  thoughts  rush  forward  to  the  day 
when  this  prayer  for  deliverance  from  "  the 
evil  "  ivill  Jiave  its  finisJied  and  perfect  anszver. 

Earthly  things  are  but  poor  types  of  heavenly 
things,  yet  they  are  the  best  we  have.  When 
we  try  to  rise  above  them,  and  our  impatient 
thoughts  break  through  the  shells  of  words,  they 
are  lost  in  the  infinite,  and  we  feel  all  about  us 
in  blank  darkness ;  but  by  what  comparison 
taken  from  the  things  of  earth — the  only  things 
we  now  know,  can  we  set  forth  the  joy  of  this 
deliverance } 

In  the  old  wars  between  king  and  Parliament, 

serpent,  as  expressing  the  general  idea  of  throttler.  "  In 
Sanskrit  the  word  meaning  throttler  was  chosen  with  great 
truth  as  the  proper  name  of  sin.  Evil  no  doubt  presented 
itself  under  various  aspects  to  the  human  mind,  and  its 
names  are  many ;  but  none  so  expressive  as  those  derived 
from  our  root  ajth,  to  throttle.  Anhas  in  Sanskrit  means 
sin,  but  it  does  so  only  because  it  meant  originally  throttling 
— the  consciousness  of  sin  being  like  the  grasp  of  the 
assassin  on  the  throat  of  his  victim.  All  who  have  seen 
and  contemplated  the  statue  of  Laokoon  and  his  sons, 
with  the  serpent  coiled  round  them  from  head  to  foot, 
may  realize  what  those  ancients  felt  and  saw  when  they 
called  sin  anhas,  or  the  throttler.  This  anhas  is  the 
same  word  as  the  Greek  agos,  sin.  In  Gothic  the  same 
root  has  produced  agis^  in  the  sense  oi  fear,  and  from 
the  same  source  we  have  awe,  in  awful,  i.e.,  fearful,  and 
ug,  in  ugly.  The  English  anguish  is  from  the  French 
angoisse,  the  Italian  angoscia,  a  corruption  of  the  Latin 
angnsticE,  a  straight." — Max  Miiller's  Lectures  on  the 
cience  of  Language,  1862,  p.  388. 


252  THE  SEVENTH  PETITION. 

the  town  of  Taunton,  attacked  by  Lord  Goring, 
and  defended  by  Robert  Blake,  sustained  a  long 
siege.  Food  rose  to  twenty  times  its  market 
value.  Half  of  the  houses  were  blown  down  by 
a  storm  of  fire,  many  of  the  people  perished  of 
hunger.  Through  all  this,  the  townsfolk  had 
been  accustomed  to  meet  in  St  Mary's  Church 
to  pray,  and  be  sure  that  the  burden  of  their 
daily  prayers  to  the  Father  was,  "  Deliver  us  !  " 
One  day  when  assembled  for  this  purpose, 
hoping  to  hear  that  the  enemy  had  at  last  re- 
treated, a  trusty  messenger  came  to  the  church 
door,  and  spoke  but  this  one  word,  "  Deliver- 
ance ! "  In  a  moment  the  magic  word  flew 
through  the  vast  assembly,  and  all  shouted  with 
one  voice,  "  Deliverance  !  " 

We  can  understand  the  feeling  that  rang  in 
that  note.  We  ourselves  have  had  many  a 
great  earthly  salvation.  Often  and  often  have 
we  had  reason  to  sing,  "our  soul  is  escaped  as 
a  bird  out  of  the  snare  of  the  fowler,  the  snare 
is  broken,  and  we  are  escaped."  We  have  been 
delivered  from  the  grasp  of  death,  we  have  been 
delivered  from  many  a  terrible  temptation,  we 
have  been  "  delivered  from  the  power  of  dark- 
ness, and  translated  into  the  kingdom  of  God's 
dear  Son ; "  but  we  have  not  yet  been  fully 
delivered  from  "  the  evil."  "  The  evil !  "  why  it 
sometimes  seems  as  if  we  should  never  be 
delivered  from  it ! 


THE  SEVENTH  PETITION.  253 

When,  in  the  course  of  our  fight  with  sin,  we 
are  in  the  very  act  of  exulting  over  some  great 
victory,  it  shoots  us  down  again,  and  we  are 
gnashing  our  teeth  in  the  dust.  When  it  seems 
to  sink  in  one  part  of  our  nature,  it  seems  to  rise 
in  another.  As  we  felt  the  first  bliss  of  forgive- 
ness, we  almost  thought  that  we  had  done  with  it 
for  ever,  and  that  Christ  would  make  it  as  easy  to 
be  holy  as  it  is  to  breathe.  We  felt  ready  to 
borrow  the  exclamation,  "  O  my  soul  thou  hast 
trodden  down  strength."  But  sin  seems  to  be 
strongest  when  it  has  had  its  death  blow.  The 
eagle  when  down,  strikes  at  you  with  a  beak 
like  a  bolt  of  iron,  and  may  flap  you  dead  with 
its  wing.  The  red  deer  when  down,  may 
fell  you  with  its  antlers.  The  dying  horse  may, 
in  the  plunge  of  its  agony,  break  a  man's  limb. 
A  harpooned  whale  may  dash  a  boat  over.  Sin 
is  like  that.  Speared  through  by  its  conqueror, 
it  may  grasp  us  in  its  last  convulsions,  and  seem 
to  be  stronger  dying  than  living ;  but  we  shall 
soon  spring  out  from  it,  and  cry, "  Deliverance!  " 

All  the  gladness  that  ever  lived  in  that  word 
as  spoken  by  mortal  lips,  will  be  forgotten  in 
the  glory  of  the  joy  that  shall  swell  in  the  word 
"  Salvation ! "  when  spoken  as  the  spirit  of  the 
prophet  heard  it  in  vision,  "  Lo,  a  great  multi- 
tude whom  no  man  could  number,  of  all  nations, 
and  kindreds,  and  peoples,  and  tongues,  stood 
before  the  throne,  and  before  the  Lamb,  clothed 


2  54  THE  SEVENTH  PETITION. 

with  white  robes  and  palms  in  their  hands,  and 
cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying.  Salvation  to  our 
God  which  sitteth  on  the  throne  and  to  the 
Lamb."  * 

"  When  did  I  die  ?  Am  I  in  the  body  or  out 
of  the  body  .-*  Is  it  all  over .''  Is  this  real,  can 
it  be  ?  Am  I  in  heaven  at  last  ?  Is  this  no 
bubble  to  snap  at  a  touch,  no  dream  to  vanish 
at  the  cold  light  of  day  ? " 

After  the  first  questions  of  the  wakening 
spirit,  and  the  cry  of  its  first  rapturous  "  Rab- 
boni !  "  in  the  first  flash  of  eternity,  and  the  sur- 
prise of  the  first  moment  in  heaven,  each 
delivered  one  will  deem  no  path  to  have  been 
too  steep,  no  trial  too  long,  by  which  the  spirit 
of  God  led  to  such  an  issue.  The  memory  of 
the  night  will  only  brighten  the  miracle  of  the 
morning,  and  all  the  pains  that  have  been  fought 
through  will  enhance  the  blessedness  of  the 
final  rest. 

*  Rev.  vii.  g,  lo. 


TURNBULL  AND  SPEARS,  PRINTERS,  EDINBURGH. 


MACNIVEN    &    WALLACE'S 

HOUSEHOLD  LIBRARY  OF  EXFOSITION. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  AS  REFLECTED  IN  HIS 
PSALMS.  By  Alexander  Maclaren,D.D.  Fourth 
Edition.     3s.  6d. 

"  Real  gems  of  exposition  are  to  be  found  in  this  slight  work,  which  might  be 
sought  in  vain  from  more  erudite  and  ponderous  tomes.  .  .  .  We  have  nothing 
but  admiration  and  praise  for  this  valuable  little  reprint."— ^«'.  6".  Cox  in 
"  Expositor." 

"This  is  no  hurried  production  as  so  many  volumes  are  in  this  age  of  light  litera- 
ture. It  is,  we  are  convinced,  the  expression  of  a  lifetime  of  study  and  careiul  analy- 
sis."— British  and  Foreign  Evangelical  Review. 

ADAM,  NOAH,  AND  ABRAHAM:  Readings  in  the 
Book  of  Genesis.  By  Joseph  Parker,  D.D.  Second 
Edition.     3  s. 

"  The  more  of  such  books  the  better.  Dr  Parker  is  always  sparkling  and  fresh 
V-  'rr'  c-'  Sketches  of  life  and  character  strikingly  drawn  by  a  vigorous  hand."— 
C.  //.  Spurgeon  in  ^'  Sword  and  Trowel." 

ISAAC,  JACOB,  AND  JOSEPH.  By  Marcus  Dods, 
D.D.     Third  Edition.     3s.  6d. 

,  ,  "  The  present  volume  is  worthy  of  the  writer's  reputation.  He  deals  with  the  pro- 
blems of  human  life  and  character  which  these  Biographies  suggest  in  a  candid  and 
manly  fashion,  and  where  he  discovers  a  spiritual  significance  in  them,  his  course  is 
always  rnarked  by  sobriety  and  caution,  yet  he  is  not  wanting  in  fervour  and  earnest- 
ness. — Spectator. 

"  Dr  Dods  has  the  double  qualification  for  writing  Biography.  He  is  at  once  a 
student  of  books  and  a  student  of  life.  For  reality,  therefore,  for  fre<^hness,  for  pene- 
tration, for  insight  into  character,  these  chapters  are  incomparable,  and  for  the  pur- 
poses of  Household  Exposition,'  we  can  conceive  of  no  healthier  form  of  Literature 
coming  into  our  families.  — Christian. 

THE  LAST  SUPPER  OF  OUR  LORD  AND  HIS 
WORDS  OF  CONSOLATION  TO  THE  DIS- 
CIPLES. By  J.  Marshall  Lang,  D.D.,  Barony 
Church,  Glasgow.    Second  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    3s.  6d. 

'•Earnestness  without  a  tinge  of  fanaticism  is  the  chief  characteristic  of  the  work 
Alike  in  spirit,  in  tone,  and  in  literary  form,  this  small  volume  is  well  fitted  to  be  the 
devout  Christian  s  companion.  ' — Scotsman. 


Books  published  by  Macniven  &-'   Wallace. 

THE  SPEECHES  OF  THE  HOLY  APOSTLES.  By 
the  Rev.  Donald  Eraser,  D.D.,  London.  Second 
Edition.     3s.  6d. 

"  There  is  a  spiritual  power  in  the  book  that  will  make  it  a  favourite." — Homiletic 
magazine. 

"  No  ephemeral  production,  but  a  vigorous  presentment  of  the  scope  and  purpose 
of  the  ."Vpostolic  Speeches,  reproducing  the  facts  of  the  narrative  of  the  .A.cts  of  the 
Apostles  in  a  manner  that  will  serve  to  make  more  clear  than  ever  to  Bible  students 
what  was  the  actual  condition  of  the  Early  Church." — Christian. 

THE  GALILEAN  GOSPEL.     By  the  Rev.  Professor  A. 
B.  Bruce,  D.D.     3s.  6d. 

"  Takes  a  high  place  in  modern  apologetic  literature." — Ecclesiastical  Gazette. 

"  A  book  of  rare  freshness  and  beauty." — Dundee  Advertiser. 

"  This  is  a  book  for  the  times,  and  one  that  will  do  good." — Christian  Leader. 

THE  LAMB  OF  GOD.  Expositions  in  the  Writings  of 
St  John.     By  W.  R.  Nicoll,  M.A.     2s.  6d. 

"The  beautiful  simplicity  of  its  style,  blended  with  much  depth  and  originality  of 
thought,  makes  it  altogether  unique.  ...  A  bonk  more  likely  to  induce  faith  and 
strengthen  confidence  we  have  never  seen,  or  one  which  deals  more  reverently  and 
honestly  with  the  solemn  issues  of  persistent  unbelief." — Christian. 

In  Preparation. 

THE  PAULINE  GOSPEL— 

By  the  Rev.  Professor  A.  B.  Bruce,  D.D.     3s.  6d. 

ECCLESIASTES— 

By  the  Rev.  Joseph  Parker,  D.D.     3s. 

THE  TEMPTATION  OF  CHRIST— 

By  the  Rev.  G.  S.  Barrett,  B.A.     3s.  6c!. 

THE  PARABLES  OF  OUR  LORD— 
By  the  Rev.  Marcus  Dods,  D.D.,  Glasgow. 

THE  SEVEN  WORDS  ON  THE  CROSS  - 

By  the  Rev.  Alexander  Maclaren,  D.D.,  Manchester. 

THE  MIRACLES  OF  OUR  LORD— 

By  the  Rev.  Professor  Laidlaw,  D.D.,  Edinburgh. 


132  PRINCES  STREET,   E    INBURGH. 


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